Wow, this is quite a lineup. … Continue reading
Category Archives: redistricting
Bloomberg Law: The Supreme Court’s newest justices, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, highlighted independent redistricting commissions as a solution to state legislatures maximizing seats for the party in power while drawing voting districts.But legal experts say these commissions can’t solve … Continue reading
Mike Parsons blogs. … Continue reading
Tierney Sneed: Catching up on the amicus briefs filed in the Census case at SCOTUS and, oh hey look at that, Ed Blum—who spearheaded the lawsuit that gutted the Voting Rights Act— wants a citizenship question so noncitizens can be … Continue reading
Ned Foley blogs. … Continue reading
Here. … Continue reading
At the recent oral argument in the partisan gerrymandering cases, both Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh raised the question whether partisan gerrymandering is a problem that could solve itself without federal court intervention. One possibility is through congressional action establishing state … Continue reading
Michael Latner: The lower equality standard reflected in current Constitutional interpretations is well understood among both election law experts and political scientists. Justice Breyer has noted the tension between single-seat districts and proportional representation. The most prominent metric of partisan advantage in … Continue reading
Mark Joseph Stern for Slate: As Talking Points Memo’s Tierney Sneed has observed, Gorsuch’s question effectively weaponizes redistricting reform as an argument againstfederal court intervention. His solution—let the people solve the problem—is absurd for at least two reasons: The court may … Continue reading
Steve Mazie for The Economist. … Continue reading
Yesterday, Nick offered some thoughts on the arguments in the Rucho and Benisek partisan gerrymandering cases, and several Justices’ fixation on whether all of this litigation is just a Trojan horse for achieving proportional representation. Nick’s post highlights the fact … Continue reading
In my write-up of what’s at stake in the partisan gerrymandering cases over at Slate, I focused on whether Chief Justice Roberts is in play. I dismissed whether Justice Kavanaugh is in play with a single sentence: “And while we … Continue reading
Rucho (North Carolina case) Benisek (Maryland case) … Continue reading
David Gans Buzzfeed oped. … Continue reading
Michael Wines in the NYT. … Continue reading
Roy Cooper and Larry Hogan WaPo oped. … Continue reading
Ralph Hise and David Lewis in The Atlantic: “I propose that we draw the maps to give a partisan advantage to 10 Republicans and three Democrats, because I do not believe it’s possible to draw a map with 11 Republicans … Continue reading
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. … Continue reading
AP: The AP’s analysis indicates that Republicans won about 16 more U.S. House seats than would have been expected based on their average share of the vote in congressional districts across the country. In state House elections, Republicans’ structural advantage … Continue reading
NYT reports on today’s Bethune-Hill II oral argument. … Continue reading
You can find the transcript here. … Continue reading
Adam Liptak NYT Sidebar column. … Continue reading
WaPo: The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Monday in a redistricting case that could help determine the balance of power in Virginia’s legislature for years to come.A panel of lower-court judges ruled last year that 11 Virginia House of Delegates districts … Continue reading
From the hearing list: … Continue reading
John Myers for the LAT: California government auditors will begin accepting applications in June from citizens who would like to help redraw the state’s congressional and legislative maps, a task with enormous political consequences.The once-a-decade redistricting process will also offer … Continue reading
The Nation on the piece of HR 1 that would require the Census to count people who are incarcerated at their last known address. The Census Bureau requested comment on the issue several times in the last few years, … Continue reading
The NY Times Editorial Board calls HR 1 the “Merrick Garland of reform legislation.” … Continue reading
The Washington Post goes deeper on this story, of the Census Bureau collecting administrative data (including citizenship information) to bolster household-by-household census results. … Continue reading
At least 31 so far, here (MD) and here (NC). … Continue reading
APNPR CBSCNNFoxNBC New York TimesWashington Post USA TodayWall St. JournalHuffPostMother JonesTPMVoxThe Hill (and here, and here) Roll CallThe GuardianTampa Bay Times (bonus: zombies!) … Continue reading
Final vote: 234-193. UPDATE: The text of the whole thing [will be] here. (As of 7:30pm ET on 3/8/19, the only text appears to be from an earlier version: the version actually considered is a combination of this, this, and … Continue reading
The Springfield News-Leader reports: Last fall, Missouri voters approved a one-of-a-kind plan to root out partisan gerrymandering with 62 percent of the vote. Republicans unhappy with the changes are now trying to roll them back. Five GOP lawmakers, including Senate … Continue reading
The AP has more on the latest at the Census Bureau. I think this is an effort to gather the administrative data that Census employees said would be more effective at assessing statistical citizenship rates, with fewer downsides for public … Continue reading
Big (and voluminous) news from California: in a 126-page opinion, Judge Seeborg has enjoined the inclusion of a question regarding citizenship on the 2020 census. The decision follows on Judge Furman’s opinion out of New York, but is more expansive: … Continue reading
On February 22, Rick noted that a North Carolina state trial court had voided a constitutional amendment pertaining to voter ID, because the amendment had been put on the ballot by a legislature elected pursuant to an unconstitutional gerrymander. Today, … Continue reading
Calling the hipsters at SXSW: I got an idea for your Friday afternoon. … Continue reading
From Plaintiffs-Appellees’ Brief filed in the Supreme Court yesterday: A State may not inhibit “the political participation of some in order to enhance the relative influence of others.” McCutcheon v. FEC, 572 U.S. 185, 191 (2014). Given this insuperable principle, … Continue reading
Plaintiffs-Appellees have filed their briefs in Rucho v. Common Cause/League of Women Voters. From the Common Cause plaintiffs’ brief: The 2016 North Carolina Congressional Plan (“2016 Plan” or “Plan”) is the most overt, and likely the most extreme, partisan gerrymander … Continue reading
WaPo op-ed: Though I will not run for president in 2020, I will continue to fight for the future of our country through the National Democratic Redistricting Committee and its affiliates. For too long, Democrats have lost sight of the … Continue reading
I’m off to College Park this afternoon for the Big Ten Strategic Partnership for Applied Redistricting Knowledge (SPARK) Conference Monday and Tuesday, hosted by the University of Maryland. … Continue reading
AP reports that the trial before the three-judge district court is scheduled to start Monday in Cincinnati. … Continue reading
The Baltimore Sun reports: Two members of Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s redistricting commission resigned after The Baltimore Sun asked questions about whether their participation in the body redrawing Maryland’s congressional districts violated state rules.The move came as the commission voted … Continue reading
The abstract of this new ELJ article: Redistricting has been a highly contentious topic in American politics for many decades. The many instances of politicians exploiting the redistricting process to achieve a partisan goal have been widely chronicled. Nonpartisan redistricting … Continue reading
Concord Monitor: House Bill 706 passed 218-123, but only 16 members of the Republican minority voted in favor of the proposal, with 123 Republican members against.Crafted by Durham Democrat Marjorie Smith, the bill would create an independent redistricting commission – … Continue reading
Wisconsin State Journal reports. … Continue reading
Detroit News: A three-judge panel is weighing the fate of a high-profile federal lawsuit alleging gerrymandering by Republican mapmakers who drew Michigan political boundaries in 2011.Plaintiffs who sued over the maps and Republicans who are defending them on Friday filed … Continue reading
Matt Ford for TNR. … Continue reading
Todd Ruger for Roll Call. … Continue reading
Will Doran: Now might be the best chance to end gerrymandering in North Carolina, at least for another decade, a bipartisan group of legislators said Wednesday when they introduced a bill to do just that.Their proposal would end North Carolina’s … Continue reading
WRAL: A key North Carolina GOP lawmaker says Republicans won’t appeal a ruling by state judges that the General Assembly violated a constitutional prohibition against mid-decade redistricting because it unnecessarily changed four House districts in 2017. … Continue reading