The commission has five members, each elected to represent one of five districts in Georgia. But elections for each seat are decided in a statewide vote; though the commissioners must live in the district they represent, a voter in Savannah or Augusta has as much say over the commissioner representing Atlanta as a voter who lives there.
By saying it would not consider the plaintiffs’ appeal, the supreme court let stand an appellate court decision that said Georgia’s statewide elections for local districts on the rate-setting body is constitutional.
If you’re going to report on a Supreme Court’s failure to consider a case, I’m begging you, tell us in the headline what the appellate decision was. Don’t make us dig 10 paragraphs down to find out whether the case was decided for or against.
(Since I don’t want to do the exact same thing: The appellate decision held that the commission could continue to be elected by a statewide, rather than a region-by-region vote. This is equivalent to letting voters in Texas have a say in who California’s senators should be.)