Supreme Court agrees with federal judge in Sacramento regarding State of Jefferson suit on underrepresentation of rural Californians

The Record-Searchlight of Redding, California reported a few days ago that Citizens for Fair Representation, "a group of rural residents mostly from the North State," have been rebuffed by the U.S. Supreme Court in their effort to convene a panel of three federal judges to consider their claim that California is too populous to be governed by the current number of State Senators and Assemblymen currently serving in Sacramento.  The lede for Alayna Shulman's story  follows:

Originally just upset with the state political system they say is unfair to rural residents, now "State of Jefferson" proponents are mad at the judge handling their lawsuit on the issue, part of which has made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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On top of their disillusionment with the state overall, the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 1 shot down a petition the group filed because it was upset U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller didn't convene a three-judge panel to hear their suit.

Shulman explains that three-judge panels can be used to speed up cases that question the size or composition of congressional districts.

In court fillings, Mueller says the case doesn't yet meet legal requirement for a three-judge panel. She wrote that two things are holding up the panel: The Jeffersonians' lawsuit is not suitable for federal court based on its current complaints, and the state filed a motion to dismiss the suit, which needs to be considered before the panel would convene.

Interestingly, the State of California declined to comment for the journalist, and it did so through both the Secretary of State's office and the State's Press Information Officer.   Both punted, referring Shulman to the other.  Maybe they see what they consider to be a frivolous suit to be beneath them in terms of offering commentary.   

A lawyer for the movement, Scott Stafne, remains hopeful, however, stating:

The Supreme Court didn’t say, 'No.' They didn't say, 'Yes.' They just decided not to hear the petition.

Read more about the State of Jefferson here (with many embedded links to other posts).