DateAuthorPost Title02.11.19Justin LevittSymposium: Clarity of the record should bring clarity of purpose02.08.19Tyler GreenSymposium: 1 First Street, NE, Punxsutawney, PA02.07.19Guy-Uriel E. Charles and Luis E. Fuentes-RohwerSymposium: Precedent dictates a win for the plaintiffs in this term’s partisan-gerrymandering cases02.07.19Kaylan PhillipsSymposium: Much ado … Continue reading
Category Archives: redistricting
Mike Parsons has posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Partisan gerrymandering claims occupy a unique purgatory in constitutional law, floating between justiciable and nonjusticiable. This term, the Supreme Court will finally decide. The issue said to divide … Continue reading
Salt Lake Tribune: After a landmark power shift that gave San Juan County its first majority Navajo Democrat commission, a state lawmaker from mostly white, Republican Blanding is broaching the subject of secession.The sheer size of the state’s largest county, … Continue reading
Cleveland.com: A three-judge federal panel on Friday rejected a request from the state of Ohio to delay a gerrymandering lawsuit that aims to put a new Ohio congressional district map in place in time for the 2020 election.The state wanted … Continue reading
From the opening brief: … Continue reading
Justin here. I’ve got a new post up at the Take Care blog, on a filing last week from DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. It’s a reversal of position, signed by a political appointee rather than career staff, of a request … Continue reading
You can find the initial entries here (I will update when there are more entries–I declined to participate in the symposium because like Justice Kennedy I remain uncertain about how these cases should be handled): Special Feature: Symposium before the … Continue reading
USLW: A constitutional crisis mainly driven by race and threatening to wipe out the Democratic executive leadership in Virginia could elevate a Republican fighting to preserve state voting districts that critics say disadvantage blacks.Kirk Cox, now the speaker of the … Continue reading
Bridge MI: New evidence submitted on the eve of a landmark trial challenging Michigan’s GOP-drawn legislative districts appears to strengthen the claim the maps were drawn in 2011 for partisan, Republican gain.Emails and other documents filed over the weekend in … Continue reading
Sam Wang: Today we’re releasing a detailed report on Michigan’s new Independent Citizens’ Redistricting Commission!In November, Michigan voters overwhelmingly approved an amendment to their state constitution to remove the power of the state legislature to draw legislative and Congressional district … Continue reading
You can watch this great conversation here. Voting Rights and Wrongs: Hammer Museum, Jan. 31, 2019 … Continue reading
Detroit News: A lawsuit alleging partisan gerrymandering by Michigan’s Republican-led Legislature is heading toward trial next week after a three-judge panel rejected a settlement proposed by Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and plaintiffs. Benson does not have the authority to enter into … Continue reading
Detroit News: Michigan Republicans are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hit pause on a federal lawsuit alleging GOP gerrymandering, a move that could disrupt a settlement agreement announced Friday by Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. Benson’s deal with … Continue reading
And the Virginia racial gerrymandering case is on March 18. Michael Li: Just out: NC and MD partisan gerrymandering cases set for oral argument at SCOTUS on 3/26. #fairmaps #ncpol pic.twitter.com/BlkPcR4ima— Michael Li (@mcpli) January 25, 2019 … Continue reading
Marquette Poll of Wisconsin voters: Seventy-two percent of voters say they prefer redistricting of legislative and congressional districts to be done by a nonpartisan commission, while 18 percent prefer redistricting be done by the legislature and governor. Majorities in each … Continue reading
Richmond Times-Dispatch: A federal court redrawing portions of Virginia’s House of Delegates map in a long-running racial gerrymandering case has picked a new configuration that could help Democrats retake control of the chamber this year and imperil the re-election campaigns … Continue reading
The following is the second of three guest posts by University of Memphis law professor Steve Mulroy, sounding some themes from his fascinating new book, Rethinking US Election Law: Unskewing the System: This is the second of a series of … Continue reading
The Detroit News reports. … Continue reading
Detroit News: Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is working to settle a federal lawsuit against the state alleging partisan gerrymandering by Republican lawmakers who approved legislative and congressional district boundaries in 2011. Benson, who took office Jan. 1, this … Continue reading
Bridge: Nearly a decade after Republicans redrew Michigan’s political districts, a federal lawsuit is set for trial Feb. 5 to determine if they were illegally gerrymandered. Just one hiccup. The new defendant in the case – the one responsible for arguing … Continue reading
Tony Pugh for The Newsroom. … Continue reading
I have written this piece for The Atlantic. It begins: The Supreme Court’s decision on Friday to take up partisan gerrymandering cases from North Carolina and Maryland brought to mind a saying attributed to Judy Garland: Behind every cloud is another cloud. … Continue reading
Howard has it. … Continue reading
Here is the Court order. On what this means, see my tweet thread yesterday. And see The Next Threat to Redistricting Reform, Harvard Law Review Blog, Oct. 22, 2018 How Justice Kennedy’s Successor Will Wreak Havoc on Voting Rights and American … Continue reading
USLW reports. … Continue reading
Tweet thread from me, starts here: There's an excellent chance that tomorrow the Supreme Court will announce it will take up (again) the question whether partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional. Don't take an agreement to hear case as a sign the … Continue reading
This order was expected; an opinion is promised to follow. Earlier coverage: With North Carolina Supreme Court Now Holding Democratic Majority, Republicans in North Carolina Legislature Seek to Move Partisan Gerrymandering Case to Federal Court. … Continue reading
NPR reports. … Continue reading
Bertrall Ross has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming Columbia Law Review). Here is the abstract: The most recent call for judicial intervention into state partisan gerrymandering practices ran aground on the shoals of standing doctrine in Gill v. Whitford. The … Continue reading
Michael Li has the details in this twitter thread: North Carolina Republicans have removed the state-court partisan gerrymandering case challenging the state's legislative maps to federal court. Notice of removal here: https://t.co/cNnNyci9bW #fairmaps #ncpol 1/ — Michael Li (@mcpli) December … Continue reading
NJ.com: Inundated with fierce opposition from across the political spectrum, Democrats who lead the New Jersey Legislature have abruptly shelved a controversial redistricting plan that critics say could bolster their power for decades. Democratic leaders had scheduled a vote for Monday, the … Continue reading
Richmond Times-Dispatch: Republican leaders in the Virginia House of Delegates have formally asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and block a lower court’s efforts to redraw the House map for the 2019 elections. In a court filing released … Continue reading
NYT: Legislative power brokers across the country have long designed district lines in back-room deals that entrenched their control for years, if not decades. But now, Democratic lawmakers in New Jersey are carrying out a power grab in an unusually … Continue reading
So predicts key Court watcher John Elwood: My instinct is Court won't act before 1/4 conference. I suspect they'll reschedule until late January, so argument would come next fall. I doubt John Roberts wants to revisit an issue that flummoxed … Continue reading
Column in the Capital Gazette. … Continue reading
NYT: The continuing legislative maneuvers in Michigan and Wisconsin are part of a broader war for power in the Midwest, a politically prized region for both parties — but especially for Republicans, who are trying to dilute Democratic control ahead … Continue reading
With no noted dissent, the Supreme Court has turned down a cert. petition in the Zimmerman campaign finance case from Austin Texas. I flagged this case (along with a Montana case that the Court will consider taking up in January) … Continue reading
Ariane de Vogue for CNN. … Continue reading
New post at State of Elections. … Continue reading
Lyle Denniston: Arguing that a state should not have to re-draw its congressional districts twice in a short time span, Maryland officials asked the Supreme Court on Monday to rule that the existing map can be used again in 2020 … Continue reading
AP: Other states have created independent commissions and required bipartisan votes to redraw legislative and congressional districts. Missouri will be the first to rely on a new mathematical formula to try to engineer “partisan fairness” and “competitiveness” in its state … Continue reading
AP: A three-judge panel has cleared the way for a trial that could upset districts in the Michigan Legislature and the state’s congressional delegation. The panel says Democrats so far have presented sufficient evidence that districts were shaped by Republican … Continue reading
AP: Wisconsin Democrats scored a huge win when Tony Evers captured the governor’s office last month. But an even bigger fight is looming as Republican lawmakers prepare to redraw legislative boundaries, stirring fears among Democrats that their rivals could take … Continue reading
I think this new draft is going to be important to the field. Theoretical Foundations and Empirical Evaluations of Partisan Fairness in District-Based Democracies Citation: Jonathan N. Katz, Gary King, and Elizabeth Rosenblatt. Working Paper. “Theoretical Foundations and Empirical Evaluations … Continue reading
Politico: Democratic legislative leaders are preparing to diminish the power of their state party chairman as well as Republicans — if they can get New Jersey voters to go along with them. Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig … Continue reading
Courthouse News Service: Los Angeles residents did not adequately show race was the main factor in the last round of redistricting or that the districts were redrawn to benefit the LA City Council’s current president, a Ninth Circuit panel held … Continue reading
Plain Dealer: As Ohio Republicans won the race for every statewide executive job from the governor on down this year, something different happened in lower-profile races. The Democrats ran much more competitive in total votes for the 116 Ohio House … Continue reading
Mark Joseph Stern: North Carolina Republicans have spent the last eight years ruthlessly undermining democracy in their state. The key to their extraordinary success is a series of partisan gerrymanders that dilute the power of Democrats’ vote, allowing the GOP … Continue reading
Here’s a guest post from Mike Parsons: The Supreme Court today agreed to hear Va. House of Delegates v. Bethune-Hill (“Bethune-Hill II”) and directed the parties to brief whether Appellants have standing. This racial gerrymandering case challenging 12 Virginia House … Continue reading
Release: Today, Common Cause, the North Carolina Democratic Party, and a group of individual North Carolina voters are suing the state of North Carolina over the partisan gerrymandering of legislative maps for both chambers of the North Carolina General Assembly. … Continue reading