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Reaction to congressional redistricting decision

Reaction to the Colorado Supreme Court decision limiting the state Legislature's right to redistrict to every 10 years following the federal census:

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"This is a blow to Republicans nationally." -- Tom Downey, an attorney for Democrats who joined the lawsuit.

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"This was expected. It's far from over. There's still a federal case to play out." -- Carl Forti, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

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"My hope is their decision will be to abide by what I think is a very sound decision by the Colorado Supreme Court -- that this will end the litigation over redistricting and we can now set about an orderly process for the congressional elections we will be seeing in 2004." -- Attorney General Ken Salazar, who filed the lawsuit.

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"In order to protect this Legislature's rights, as well as those of other state legislatures around the country, we will now proceed to the federal courts." -- House Speaker Lola Spradley, R-Beulah.

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"The purpose of redistricting is to give votes to people, not to give political parties opportunities to aggrandize their power." -- David Fine, attorney for Democrats in the pending federal case.

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"The Colorado Supreme Court, while only ruling that redistricting more than once in a decade violates the state constitution, has broken new ground in the judicial regulation of partisan gerrymanders." -- University of Pennsylvania Law School Professor Nathaniel Persily.

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"This is great news for Coloradans and for Americans who believe in the democratic process." -- Kori Bernards, spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

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"The Republican Party fears the voters and is seeking to put Republicans in Congress without elections not only in Colorado but also in Texas. This decision makes it clear that they are engaged in an unconstitutional and illegal effort to circumvent the will of the voters." -- Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo.

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