Topeka ? A lawsuit filed about new congressional districts should be dismissed because the Attorney General’s Office hasn’t shown any voters were harmed, Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh said.

Thornburgh has asked a panel of three judges to dismiss the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Topeka. The judges plan to hear arguments at 1 p.m. today.

	A federal court hearing will take place today on the state congressional redistricting plan, which splits Lawrence between two districts. The hearing starts at 1 p.m. in room 401 at the federal courthouse in Topeka.

The judges ordered Atty. Gen. Carla Stovall to identify one voter who claims to be wronged by the new districts or demonstrate why identifying someone isn’t necessary.

“It’s an important element for the court to discuss,” Thornburgh said Monday during an interview.

Stovall sued Thornburgh on behalf of residents of Junction City. Some were upset that their city was put in the 1st District, separating it from neighboring Fort Riley, which would remain in the 2nd District.

The attorney general argued that legislators who drew the map ignored the “community of interest” between the fort and Junction City.

However, her lawsuit named only the state as the plaintiff and only Thornburgh as the defendant.

Thornburgh maintains the lawsuit amounts to the state suing itself and that Stovall hasn’t shown any injury to the state meaning her office has no issue for which to sue.

Stovall spokesman Mark Ohlemeier declined Monday to discuss the issue.

“We’re going to address that at the hearing,” he said.

Not only are the boundaries of the state’s four congressional districts at stake in the case, but the election schedule may be as well.

The three judges have postponed the filing deadline for congressional candidates to July 9 from June 24. Thornburgh worries the Aug. 6 primary may have to be postponed if the court does not rule quickly.

Legislators did not approve a congressional redistricting bill until May 16, a year after their debate started. The plan also splits the city of Lawrence between the 2nd and 3rd districts.

The office of Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, has jumped into the lawsuit, protesting the split of Lawrence. Also intervening were the state’s four American Indian tribes, which want the 2nd District to include their reservations, all of Lawrence, Manhattan, Junction City and Fort Riley.