Category Archives: redistricting

“Are states equipped to tackle partisan gerrymandering on their own?”

May 2, 2019, 8:52 pmredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Steve Mazie for the Economist. Yet the difficulty of replicating Michigan’s transition in most other states is a hard reality. And the Wolverine state’s success is allowing some justices to believe that the courts can sit back and let democracy… Continue reading

“GOP appeals Michigan gerrymandering ruling to Supreme Court”

April 30, 2019, 2:26 pmredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Detroit News: Michigan legislative and congressional Republicans are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a blockbuster ruling that the state’s political maps must be redrawn because of an unconstitutional gerrymander of “historical proportions.” Attorneys for GOP lawmakers on Tuesday… Continue reading

“Gerrymandering lawsuit stunner: Daughter of deceased GOP mapmaker turns over his documents to Common Cause”

April 30, 2019, 10:07 amredistrictingRick Hasen

NC Policy Watch: The daughter of late GOP mapmaker Thomas Hofeller – the man responsible for some of North Carolina’s most infamous gerrymanders – turned over four of his external hard drives and 18 thumb drives after his death to… Continue reading

Breaking: Unanimous 3-Judge Federal Court Strikes Down 27 Michigan Districts (Some Congressional) as Partisan Gerrymanders

April 25, 2019, 12:14 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

You can find the unanimous 146-page decision at this link. The court embraced both an equal protection theory and a First Amendment theory, the two main theories the Supreme Court is considering in the pending partisan gerrymandering cases out… Continue reading

“Geography of Redistricting” Conference at Harvard

April 5, 2019, 8:31 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Wow, this is quite a lineup.

“Fixing Gerrymandered Maps Tougher than Gorsuch, Kavanaugh Think”

April 4, 2019, 2:01 pmredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

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… Continue reading

“Two Birds, One Stone: The Supreme Court’s Shot to Fix the Political Question Doctrine and Political Gerrymandering”

April 4, 2019, 7:57 amredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Mike Parsons blogs.

One of the Citizenship Question Census Endgames: Exclude Non-Citizens from Redistricting

April 3, 2019, 2:49 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

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

“Gerrymandering as Viewpoint Discrimination: A ‘Functional Equivalence’ Test”

April 2, 2019, 7:06 amredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Ned Foley blogs.

Esquire Interviews Allison Riggs, One of the Plaintiffs’ Attorneys Who Argued the North Carolina Partisan Gerrymandering Case

March 31, 2019, 9:00 pmredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Here.

Are Congressional Action, Voter-Established Redistricting Commissions, or State Courts Good Substitutes or Supplement for Federal Court Review of Partisan Gerrymanders?

March 30, 2019, 9:29 amredistricting, Supreme Court, UncategorizedRick Hasen

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

“Equality, More or Less: How the Supreme Court Might Fix Gerrymandering”

March 29, 2019, 9:06 amredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

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… Continue reading

“Neil Gorsuch’s Bad-Faith Ploy to Save Partisan Gerrymandering and Doom American Democracy”

March 28, 2019, 1:02 pmcitizen commissions, redistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

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:… Continue reading