We already know that the 2010 census results let Minnesota keeps its eight congressional districts, but how will those districts be drawn?

New data from the Census Bureau will arrive next week, which means the real work of drawing new districts for federal, legislative and local political boundaries can begin.

Legislators get the first shot at drawing the lines, but that can be problematic because the party in power at times has been suspected, it is said, of gently gerrymandering those boundaries just a bit to keep their majority intact.

Earlier this week, there was a call for an independent board to ensure that lines would be drawn in a fair fashion. But legislative leaders didn’t jump on that idea, so there’s a chance the whole thing will end up in the courts, as sometimes happens.