Category Archives: redistricting

“Supreme Court’s Delay Creates Uncertainty for South Carolina Election”

March 8, 2024, 4:15 pmredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Jimmy Hoover for National Law Journal: New candidates are throwing their hats in the ring in Republican Rep. Nancy Mace’s South Carolina congressional district despite a court ruling last year striking down the GOP drawn map as an unconstitutional “racial… Continue reading

“Republicans Hatched a Secret Assault on the Voting Rights Act in Washington State”

March 2, 2024, 3:26 pmredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

ProPublica: Republican Paul Graves’ work was about to come undone. In the wee hours of Nov. 15, 2021, he and his fellow Republican on Washington state’s independent redistricting commission had finally prevailed on their Democratic counterparts to agree to the … Continue reading

“Wisconsin Supreme Court rejects move to reconsider state’s congressional maps”

March 1, 2024, 4:45 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday rejected a request to reconsider the state’s congressional maps ahead of the next election, ensuring the current district boundaries will remain in place for 2024. The court’s decision ends a last-minute push … Continue reading

“Democrats Blew Their Big Opportunity to Make New York Winnable in 2024”

March 1, 2024, 12:42 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

Alexander Sammon for Slate: After over a year in court, millions of dollars on lawyers’ fees, an overhaul of the state’s highest court, and an all-out battle to throw out New York’s congressional districts and replace them with something… Continue reading

“NY Gov. Approves Bill Directing Redistricting Suits to NY’s Major Metropolitan Courts”

February 29, 2024, 2:40 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

Law.com: An amended bill that limits New Yorkers to filing redistricting lawsuits in Manhattan and Albany, Westchester and Erie counties was signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday, after the Assembly approved it earlier in the day, while the… Continue reading

“Shadow disticts”

February 27, 2024, 9:32 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Quinn Yeargain has written this article for the Cardozo Law Review. Here is the abstract: Redistricting disputes—for congressional, state legislative, and local districts—have proven all-consuming in politics. Litigation over the legality of districts, under both federal and state law, is… Continue reading

“Gov. Tony Evers signs new election maps, ending Wisconsin Republicans’ grip on legislative power”

February 19, 2024, 8:55 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: Wisconsin Republicans lost their more than decade-long grip on control of the state Legislature Monday after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers signed into law new electoral maps that reshape down-ballot races in this battleground state. Evers signed a bill … Continue reading

“A Redistricting Surprise in New York: A Map That Plays Few Favorites”

February 15, 2024, 5:44 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

NYT: When New York’s top court ordered the state to redraw its congressional map late last year, the state’s ruling Democrats were widely expected to exploit the opening to aggressively reshape district lines in their favor. But on Thursday, a… Continue reading

“Wisconsin Republicans vote to weaken their lock on the legislature”

February 14, 2024, 5:41 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Patrick Marley for WaPo: Wisconsin Republicans approved maps Tuesday that would weaken their ironclad grip on the state legislature, backing new district lines supported by the Democratic governor out of fears that the state’s top court could impose ones that… Continue reading

Digging in in the Badger State

February 11, 2024, 11:16 amredistrictingJustin Levitt

Justin here. There’s an oddity in the most recent round of Wisconsin’s redistricting travails. Democratic legislators (and later, the Democratic Governor) seem to be voting against an ostensible olive branch extended by the Republican legislative leadership. And I wonder if… Continue reading

“Civil Rights Groups Secure Victory in LandmarkCase Challenging Racial Discrimination inLouisiana’s State Legislative Maps”

February 8, 2024, 3:30 pmredistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Release: In a victory for fair maps, a federal court today ruled in favor of Louisiana voters, agreeing that the current state House and Senate district maps violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The plaintiffs who challenged the… Continue reading

“Partisan Gerrymandering Cases in State Supreme Courts in the 2020s Redistricting Round”

February 7, 2024, 5:47 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

Jonathan Cervas, Bernie Grofman, Scott Matsuda, and Justine Kawa have posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: After the U.S. Supreme Court opted out of any federal court role in policing partisan gerrymandering in its 2019 decision, Rucho… Continue reading

“A Partisan Solution to Partisan Gerrymandering: The Define–Combine Procedure”

January 24, 2024, 10:22 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Maxwell Palmer, Benjamin Schneer and Kevin DeLuca in Political Analysis. Abstract: Redistricting reformers have proposed many solutions to the problem of partisan gerrymandering, but they all require either bipartisan consensus or the agreement of both parties on the… Continue reading

Supreme Court Won’t Interfere in Michigan Case Finding that Its Independent Redistricting Commission Likely Engaged in Racial Gerrymanders in Drawing Legislative District Lines Around Detroit

January 22, 2024, 1:04 pmredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Via Chris Geidner: And, this application out of Michigan — https://t.co/hS5GNOOWmm — was denied. There were no noted dissents. pic.twitter.com/MvOHHSgYq2— Chris “Law Dork” Geidner (@chrisgeidner) January 22, 2024 Here‘s the docket for the case. The Commission has… Continue reading