Category Archives: redistricting

“All pain, whose gain? The surprising implications of a new legal theory for redistricting”

August 31, 2022, 1:17 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

Sam Wang: Lots of pixels have been spilled on a legal theory once considered fringe, the Independent State Legislature doctrine. This theory threatens to wreak havoc with centuries of election law. Two upcoming Supreme Court redistricting cases cite this… Continue reading

“Can computer simulations help fix democracy?”

August 23, 2022, 7:10 amredistrictingRick Hasen

WaPo: After the release of the 2020 Census, legislatures across the country redrew their states’ congressional district maps, just like they do every decade. And, just like every decade, aggrieved citizens sued them for gerrymandering — the process whereby… Continue reading

“Activists in Florida say Black voters have seen their political power curtailed”

August 23, 2022, 7:03 amredistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

NPR: A combination of new election laws and congressional redistricting has made it harder for Black communities in Florida to organize and vote, activists say.Florida, which concludes its primary elections on Tuesday, is among various Republican-led states that have… Continue reading

“American Democracy Was Never Designed to Be Democratic: The partisan redistricting tactics of cracking and packing aren’t merely flaws in the system — they are the system.”'”

August 15, 2022, 7:45 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Louis Menand in the New Yorker.

Must Read Michael Wines in the NYT: “Maps in Four States Were Ruled Illegal Gerrymanders. They’re Being Used Anyway.”

August 8, 2022, 7:54 amredistrictingRick Hasen

NYT: Since January, judges in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Ohio have found that Republican legislators illegally drew those states’ congressional maps along racial or partisan lines, or that a trial very likely would conclude that they did. In years past,… Continue reading

Cert. Petition Asserts Racial Gerrymandering of PA State Legislative Districts

July 15, 2022, 5:04 amredistricting, Supreme Court, Uncategorized, Voting Rights ActDan Tokaji

Here’s the question presented by the cert petition in Benninghoff v. 2021 Legislative Reapportionment Commission, brought by Pennsylvania’s Republican House Majority Leader: Pennsylvania’s Legislative Reapportionment Commission admittedly made extensive use of race in constructing up to 14 state legislative… Continue reading

CLC on “The Supreme Court’s Role in the Degradation of U.S. Democracy”

July 13, 2022, 8:07 amcampaign finance, redistricting, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActDan Tokaji

From the first page of the hard-hitting report, available here, that Campaign Legal Center released today: The time has come to talk about what the Supreme Court is doing to American democracy. For more than half a century—roughly during… Continue reading

2022 Cook Partisan Voting Index

July 13, 2022, 7:27 amredistrictingDan Tokaji

Available here, with maps for each congressional district and state. “Now that all 50 states have finalized new lines for the 2022 elections, the Cook Political Report is pleased to introduce the 25th Anniversary edition of the Cook… Continue reading

“Gerrymander U.S.A.”

July 13, 2022, 5:39 amredistrictingDan Tokaji

Jesse Wegman in the NYT, with photos by Damon Winter of Denton, TX in the state’s 13th Congressional District, which is now represented by former Trump WH physician Ronny Jackson.

“How Redistricting Gives Republicans New Political Power”

July 10, 2022, 7:45 amredistrictingDan Tokaji

WSJ: Republicans are favored to take control of the House in this year’s midterm elections, and redistricting has given them a built-in advantage that could span the next 10 years.The GOP is expected to net a handful of… Continue reading

“ND Judge Won’t Throw Out Tribes’ Redistricting Suit”

July 8, 2022, 3:35 pmredistricting, Uncategorized, Voting Rights ActDan Tokaji

Law360: “A North Dakota federal judge on Thursday denied the state’s motion to dismiss a suit claiming its new legislative districts dilute Native Americans’ voting rights, ruling the tribes’ right to seek a remedy is embedded in case law.”… Continue reading

“How The Supreme Court Could Turbocharge Gerrymandering — Just In Time for 2024”

July 8, 2022, 9:18 amelection subversion risk, redistricting, Supreme CourtDan Tokaji

538 on Moore v. Harper: The independent state legislature theory is fewer than 25 years old, and for most of its life, it’s been relegated to the fringes of academia. But it was widely promoted by former President Donald … Continue reading

“Next Time Trump Tries to Steal an Election, He Won’t Need a Mob”

July 8, 2022, 8:16 amelection subversion risk, redistricting, Supreme CourtDan Tokaji

Jamelle Bouie’s NYT column: Last week, the Supreme Court announced it would hear arguments in Moore v. Harper, a challenge to North Carolina’s new congressional map.The long and short of the case is that North Carolina Republicans proposed a… Continue reading