Breaking news from the Washington Post‘s Robert Barnes:

A unanimous panel of federal judges on Friday declared Ohio’s Republican-drawn congressional map unconstitutional, adding to a growing number of states where partisan gerrymandering has been outlawed.

That decision and a similar one last month in Michigan could be seen as signals from the lower courts to their superiors. The Supreme Court is deciding whether judges even have a role in such disputes.

While the high court regularly polices redistricting plans for racial gerrymandering, it has never found lawmakers’ partisan efforts to preserve power so extreme that their actions violate the constitutional rights of voters. The justices’ decision is expected by the term’s end in June.

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