The Republic | azcentral.com Fri Jan 24, 2014 10:14 PM

The Legislature’s Republican leadership is asking a federal court to toss out the congressional districts created by an independent panel and let them do the drawing in time for this summer’s primary election.

In arguments Friday before a panel of three federal judges, lawyers for the Legislature said only state lawmakers have the authority to draw the boundaries for Arizona’s nine congressional districts.

But attorneys for the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission say voters gave that duty to the commission when they approved a ballot measure in 2000. Proposition 106 took the line-drawing power away from lawmakers and placed it in the hands of a five-member panel.

Since then, the commission has gone through two redistricting cycles, producing new congressional districts based on the results of the U.S. census done in 2000 and 2010.

But the commission’s recent work was dogged by controversy, as Republicans complained it tilted unfairly to benefit Democrats. Of the nine newly drawn districts, three were deemed competitive, with a central-Phoenix district specifically created to give candidates of either major party a shot at the seat. All three seats were won by Democrats in 2012, and all three are being hotly contested in the 2014 campaign.

The Legislature, led by Senate President Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert, and House Speaker Andy Tobin, R-Paulden, sued in 2012. Tobin is a congressional candidate running in the competitive District 1, even though his official residence is just outside that boundary.

The lawmakers argue the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution gives state legislatures the sole authority to draw congressional lines.

In the courtroom, Judge Murray Snow asked legislative counsel Peter Gentala to show him where the clause states that, since it deals with the issue of “the time, place and manner” of holding elections, not drawing district lines.

Gentala argued delegating the “manner” in which elections are held extends to determining where district boundaries should fall.

But Mary O’Grady, arguing for the redistricting commission, pointed to the voter initiative and said it transferred the legislative duty of redistricting to the independent panel. Besides, she argued, lawmakers are not entirely cut out of the redistricting process. They appoint four of the five commissioners and can comment on the congressional maps before they are finalized.

But Gentala said that only deals with peripheral issues. Under current Arizona practice, he said, “the Legislature is out of the process by not being able to exercise any lawmaking power.” The modern-day practice of establishing independent commissions, something done in three other states besides Arizona, is fraught with problems, he said, because it undermines the authority of state legislatures.

Judge Paul Rosenblatt said the three-judge panel is conscious of the time constraints on the case, since candidates for Congress can start filing their nomination petitions in late April.

If they get a favorable ruling, lawmakers plan to produce a congressional map and get it approved in time to be in effect for the Aug. 26 primary.

The lawsuit is one of three in the courts challenging the work of the redistricting commission. No final rulings have been issued in any of the cases.