Category Archives: redistricting

Sellers: The 2021 Redistricting Cycle Will Disparately Impact Black Communities

December 9, 2021, 7:59 amredistrictingNew ScholarshipTabatha Abu El-Haj

Joshua Sellers’ new article “Race, Reckoning, Reform, and the Limits of the Law of Democracy” is a timely reminder to all of us that the consequences of redistricting are not just about the health of our democracy. Partisan… Continue reading

Pennsylvania Republicans Offer Citizen’s Map as Starting Point for Congressional Redistricting

December 9, 2021, 6:18 amredistrictingTabatha Abu El-Haj

In an unexpected move, the Republican chair of the Pennsylvania House Committee on redistricting is planning to debate a citizen map as the starting point for the commonwealth’s congressional redistricting negotiations. The “citizen map” chosen by State Rep. Seth… Continue reading

Breaking: DOJ Sues the State of Texas under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act for Its Redistricting Plan, Claiming Dilution of African-American and Latino Voting Strength

December 6, 2021, 10:59 amDepartment of Justice, redistricting, Uncategorized, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

The complaint targets both congressional districts and the Texas House. More coverage later from Nick Stephanopoulos, who is primary ELB blogger this week.

“NC judges won’t block primary election preparation over redistricting cases”

December 3, 2021, 3:21 pmredistrictingpartisan gerrymander, state courtsTabatha Abu El-Haj

News and Observer The three-judge panel in North Carolina charged with reviewing the challenge to the state’s new maps refused today to grant a preliminary injunction blocking the congressional and legislative maps approved last month . The decision can and… Continue reading

Texas’ bid to dismiss challenge to its maps fails

December 3, 2021, 2:57 pmredistricting, Voting Rights ActTabatha Abu El-Haj

Three-judge district court panel rejects Texas’ preposterous argument that VRA precludes private enforcement of Section 2. I love the wry sarcasm, “it would be ambitious indeed for a district court-even a three judge court-to deny a private right of action… Continue reading

Breaking–“Washington Supreme Court declines to redraw political maps, accepts redistricting commission’s work”

December 3, 2021, 10:41 amredistrictingindependent redistricting commissionsTabatha Abu El-Haj

Seattle Times “The Washington Supreme Court will not exercise its authority to redraw the state’s congressional and legislative district maps, leaving in place the work of the bipartisan redistricting commission.In a unanimous ruling Friday, the court found the commission had… Continue reading

“How the Suburbs Have Changed Gerrymandering”

December 2, 2021, 6:52 pmredistrictingTabatha Abu El-Haj

Maggie Astor, N.Y. Times, writes that “Republican gerrymandering efforts used to focus mainly on diluting the influence of cities,” but this cycle the focus is also on cracking the political power of the suburbs. The article notes, further, that… Continue reading

Dec. 3 virtual event: “Self-districting: the ultimate antidote to gerrymandering.”

December 2, 2021, 6:38 amredistrictingEventsTabatha Abu El-Haj

On Friday, Dec. 3, at 1:30 PM ET the Princeton Gerrymandering Project / Electoral Innovation Lab will present a virtual Academic Talk over Zoom with Edward Foley, Charles W. Ebersold and Florence Whitcomb Ebersold Chair in Constitutional Law, the Director… Continue reading

Ohio’s Maps Challenged in State Court

December 1, 2021, 7:42 amredistrictingTabatha Abu El-Haj

The ACLU, the League of Women Voters of Ohio, and the A. Philip Randolph Institute are challenging Ohio’s new Republican-drawn congressional map as an illegal gerrymander. The suit filed with the Ohio Supreme Court yesterday argues that the adopted maps… Continue reading

Update Breaking News–Wisconsin Redistricting

November 30, 2021, 2:57 pmredistrictingTabatha Abu El-Haj

J.R. Ross, Editor of WisPolitics.com, reports on Twitter that the Wisconsin Supreme Court has rule “it will NOT consider partisan balance in drawing new lines for the Legislature, Congress and will make the ‘minimum changes necessary’ to the current… Continue reading

“New maps spark debate over majority-minority districts”

November 25, 2021, 12:46 pmredistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

AP: For decades, the widely accepted strategy was to group together Black voters so they comprised a majority in a statehouse or congressional district. That principle was enshrined in the federal Voting Rights Act, which requires the creation of… Continue reading

“G.O.P. Cements Hold on Legislatures in Battleground States”

November 25, 2021, 12:37 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

NYT: Republicans are locking in newly gerrymandered maps for the legislatures in four battleground states that are set to secure the party’s control in the statehouse chambers over the next decade, fortifying the G.O.P. against even the most sweeping potential… Continue reading

Josh Douglas: “Why Gerrymandering Needs to Land in State Courts”

November 24, 2021, 12:37 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

Josh Douglas Politico oped: It’s already become clear that increasingly partisan state legislatures can’t be trusted to draw fair maps, and the U.S. Supreme Court — given a chance to intervene — made things worse by washing its hands… Continue reading

“Competitive House districts are getting wiped off the map”

November 23, 2021, 7:23 amredistrictingRick Hasen

WaPo: From Texas to Oregon, competitive congressional districts are disappearing. As states finalize new borders ahead of the 2022 midterms, state legislatures are approving maps they hope will advantage one party in the coming struggle to control the… Continue reading