Walla Walla Lawyers Fight Back Against Federal Gerrymandering
Local attorneys launch a protest against a proposed federal court map they claim is designed to stifle Eastern Washington's growing influence.
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President Allen H. Reynolds and Secretary E. C. Mills of the Walla Walla Bar association have completed resolutions protesting the division of Washington state into two federal court districts by an east-west line. The proposed bill would create a northern and a southern district by drawing an imaginary line between Seattle and Tacoma. The Bar association argues that nature already divided the state via the Cascade range, and that the state should be split into natural Eastern and Western districts. They warn that the 'north and south' configuration is a case of political gerrymandering that would force litigants and attorneys in Eastern Washington to suffer needless expense and time loss. The association formally requested that Congress reject the north-south split in favor of a longitudinal division that recognizes the region's geographic and economic identity.
“To an unprejudiced observer the proposed division of the state into north and south districts seems to be political gerrymandering rather than an earnest desire to promote the best interests of the several parts of the state.”
The struggle for regional representation in Washington has deep roots; debates over judicial districts and state resources often pit the Cascades against the urban centers of the Sound. This 1904 protest reflects the era's anxiety about Eastern Washington's identity as an 'inland empire' versus the political weight of the coast.
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