Kansas Supreme Court asked to dismiss redistricting lawsuits

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt is asking the Kansas Supreme Court to dismiss two lawsuits filed over new Republican-drawn congressional maps. Schmidt argued in a petition filed Friday that the controversy over redistricting should not decided in the Legislature, not in state courts. He also said the legal challenges are without merit. The maps would cost the state’s only Democrat in Congress some territory in her Kansas City-area district. The lawsuits, filed Monday in Wyandotte County District Court, argue the new maps violate the state Constitution and the Legislature’s redistricting guidelines. Schmidt’s office wants the state Supreme Court to bypass the district court and take up the matter itself.