about it? well, if you re ohio, the answer is apparently slow to come. the gop-led ohio redistricting committee has failed several times to produce fair redistricting maps before the court-imposed deadline. now they re facing contempt of court charges with ohio s first primary just months away. nbc s heidi przybilla joins us with the latest. reporter: in ohio, a growing constitutional crisis over redistricting. this is a direct assault on our democracy and ohio s owners. reporter: a gop-like commission has failed to meet a deadline ordered by the ohio supreme court to fix state maps the court deemed unconstitutionally jerry manhandlered in favor of republicans. it would appear that this sxhigs is at an impasse. reporter: for voters, that means there are currently no districts for 99 statehouses and 33 state senate seats and no roadmap for what happens next. the secretary of state issuing a
he does in court, his decisions. so i m not going to talk about this decision. reporter: in a statement, justice pat dewine has asserted as one of seven members on the commission, his father has, quote, considerably less influence on the decision. and added, most importantly, he has no personal interest in the litigation. a decision by the court one way or another will not provide any personal benefit to him. we have an obligation to produce a map. reporter: late on friday night the ohio supreme court warned governor dewine and other members of the commission to explain why they could not be held in contempt for failing to produce a map. now they have until wednesday at noon to respond. the stakes couldn t be higher. this will determine ohio s political landscape for the next decade. i love my home state, but this is messed up. you don t know if you want to run for office, where are you going to run, if you want to figure out who you re going to vote for, you don t know who is
warning as the clock ticks towards the may 3rd elections. with much to be done in preparation, we are dangerously close to possibly violating federal law. reporter: the democratic minority members on the panel say republicans are blocking fair maps and are trying to run out the map. republicans say it s impossible to meet the court s standards for fair maps. it s not surprising, and we suspected all along that this would be the strategy that they would use. reporter: the court had ruled the maps must reflect statewide voting preferences, roughly 54% republican representation and 46% for democrats. now the court must decide what to do about a commission in open defiance of their order. among the members of the ohio redistricting commission, remdesivir governor mike dewine. we have an obligation to follow the court order, whether we like it or not, whether we agree with it or not. reporter: and among the justices who will decide the consequences for the failure to