The three-judge state court which found North Carolina’s legislative districts to be unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders under that state’s constitution has appointed Stanford professor Nate Persily as the referee/special master in the case. This means that Persily at the least… Continue reading

Mark Joseph Stern for Slate.

New report from the Schwarzenegger Institute. Executive summary:

I have written this piece for Vox. It begins: Reformers hoping to rein in partisan gerrymandering have a big idea that’s caught on in several states: handing the redistricting power over to an independent commission, rather than politicians in the… Continue reading

David Lublin, Lisa Handley, Tom Brunell, and Bernie Grofman have written this article for the Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics. Here is the abstract: Though African-American and Latino electoral success in state legislative and congressional elections continues to occur… Continue reading

Listen here.

Blockbuster: Hofeller did not follow his own advice. Before his death, in August, 2018, he saved at least seventy thousand files and several years of e-mails. A review of those records and e-mails—which were recently obtained first by The… Continue reading

Democrats are now pondering a state court challenge to North Carolina’s partisan gerrymandering of the state’s 13 congressional districts, following a state court ruling that the state legislative districts are a partisan gerrymander. The U.S. Supreme Court in the… Continue reading

NYT: At the heart of a decisive court ruling on Tuesday striking down North Carolina’s state legislative maps was evidence culled from the computer backups of the man who drew them: Thomas B. Hofeller, the Republican strategist and master… Continue reading

Politico: Democrats were caught napping in the 2010 election ahead of the last round of redistricting — and it cost them control of Congress for nearly a decade.Now Republicans are warning the same thing could happen to them.Senior Republicans… Continue reading

Josh Douglas CNN oped.

Following up on this post about today’s state court ruling, North Carolina Republicans have thrown in the towel: A looong legal battle over these state legislative districts in North Carolina is over. No more appeals. Democrats and opponents… Continue reading

You can find the 357-page unanimous ruling at this link. Given the state Supreme Court has a 6-1 Democratic majority (including now Justice Anita Earls), this ruling could well be upheld on appeal. This is a huge development that… Continue reading