the hours before the deadline. Because the commission failed to meet the deadline, the Washington Supreme Court took over responsibility for the state's maps. Several Washington politicians expressed disappointment that the commission failed and that the supreme court would be drawing the state's maps. Republican former state senator Ann Rivers claimed that it was "fair to wonder" if some members of the commission wanted to miss the deadline so that the majority-liberal supreme court could take over redistricting. The League of Women Voters called for the entire process to be reformed, believing it should be more transparent and that the commissioners should be given more time and training. And Washington Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig said his caucus would introduce legislation to require that the final version of the commission's map be released to the public before the final vote to prevent future commissions from missing the deadline. Supreme Court Some speculated that maps drawn by the supreme court may have been more favorable to the Democratic Party compared to those drawn by the bipartisan commission, as five out of the court's nine justices were originally appointed by Democratic governors (three by Jay Inslee and two by Christine Gregoire). The members of the commission urged the supreme court to adopt the maps that it drew but did not approve in time. However, commissioner Walkinshaw acknowledged that there may be questions about whether the maps' handling of the Yakima River Valley may have violated the Voting Rights Act due to its distribution of Latinos. The UCLA Voting Rights Project claimed that the maps demonstrated "racially polarized voting patterns" in the region and urged the supreme court to address these issues. The supreme court granted the commission's request and adopted its maps, but it emphasized that its decision to use the commission's maps "does not render any opinion on the plan’s compliance with any statutory and constitutional requirements," meaning that the maps could still be challenged in court. New maps Washington's new congressional map leaves the districts largely the same, though it makes the 1st and 10th districts somewhat more liberal. The most notable change was to the 1st district, which previously reached up to the Canada–US border. Under the new map, it is more compact, with Medina and Bellevue in the south and Arlington in the north. Much of the areas cut out from the 1st district were added to the