Category Archives: redistricting

The long shadow of the Elections Clause

May 29, 2024, 6:01 amredistricting, Supreme CourtDerek Muller

Rucho v. Common Cause and Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP both involved congressional redistricting. Each took place, ostensibly, under Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 of the Constitution, the Elections Clause. From Rucho, “Congress has regularly… Continue reading

Breaking and Analysis: Justice Alito for Republican Justices, over the Dissent of Democratic Justices, Rewrites Racial Gerrymandering Standards to Help White Republican States

May 23, 2024, 7:11 amredistricting, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

[This post has been edited and updated.] In a 6-3 decision authored by Justice Alito, the Supreme Court has reversed a lower court ruling holding that South Carolina’s congressional map was a racial gerrymandering. Justice Thomas concurred, and Justice Kagan,… Continue reading

“Minnesota ends prison gerrymandering”

May 20, 2024, 1:46 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

Prison Gerrymandering Project: On Friday, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed HF 4772 — an omnibus elections policy bill — into law, officially ending prison gerrymandering in the state. With this action, Minnesota joins the rapidly growing list of states that … Continue reading

Supreme Court briefing complete on appeal of North Dakota redistricting case

May 7, 2024, 6:41 amredistrictingDerek Muller

Walen v. Burgum was decided before a three-judge panel and is on appeal to the Supreme Court. It involves the interaction of the Equal Protection Clause and racial gerrymandering with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in the drawing… Continue reading

“The Roadmap for Fair Reports in 2030: A Summary of the 2023 National Citizen Redistricting Commissioners Conference”

May 2, 2024, 6:08 amredistrictingRick Hasen

New report.

Breaking: Three Judge Court, Breaking Along Party Lines, Says Louisiana Impermissibly Created a Second Black Congressional District, Orders Hearing on Remedy

April 30, 2024, 3:38 pmredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Faced with a likely successful lawsuit by minority plaintiffs under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the Louisiana legislature drew a second black majority congressional district. After the districts were drawn, those who did not like Louisiana having a… Continue reading

“Fierce Races Loom With Wisconsin’s New Political Maps”

April 6, 2024, 2:26 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

NYT: The state’s residents have long been a close mix of Democrats and Republicans, which makes Wisconsin a crucial swing state in presidential elections and means statewide races are often fiercely contested. The reshaping of the maps is expected to… Continue reading

“Supreme Court Rejects Bid to Revive Washington State Voting Map Said to Hurt Hispanics”

April 2, 2024, 1:45 pmredistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

NYT: The Supreme Court refused on Tuesday to reinstate a voting map for the Washington State Legislature that a federal judge had found discriminated against Hispanic voters. As is the court’s custom when it acts on emergency applications, its brief… Continue reading

“The fight to flip the House just got harder for Dems. And they have New York to blame.”

March 29, 2024, 10:07 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Zach Montellaro for Politico: Republicans eked out a narrow win in the 2024 redistricting wars, gaining a single seat before the general election. While there’s an outside chance of another last-minute redistricting before November, after two significant court rulings this… Continue reading

New OMB race/ethnicity categories

March 28, 2024, 10:38 pmredistricting, Voting Rights Actcensus, raceJustin Levitt

Justin here. This is a really big deal: the federal government’s got new standards for collecting data on race and ethnicity. The Office of Management and Budget has a sneak preview today of tomorrow’s update of “Statistical Policy Directive No.… Continue reading

“South Carolina latest state to use congressional map deemed illegal”

March 28, 2024, 8:05 pmredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Patrick Marley for WaPo: In a scenario that has played out in three states in recent years, a federal court ruled Thursday that time had run out to draw a new congressional district in South Carolina and that the state… Continue reading

“Federal court rejects congressional redistricting challenge as state lawsuit awaits Florida Supreme Court”

March 28, 2024, 10:04 amredistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

The Tributary: A three-judge federal panel unanimously upheld a controversial congressional map backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, despite accusations he and the Legislature discriminated against Black voters. The judges agreed that the plaintiffs failed to show the Legislature was discriminating… Continue reading

“South Carolina Republicans ask justices to let district ruled a racial gerrymander go forward”

March 21, 2024, 11:47 amredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Amy Howe for SCOTUSBlog: Telling the justices that if they do not intervene they will create “confusion and uncertainty over this year’s elections,” a group of Republican lawmakers from South Carolina came to the Supreme Court this week, asking the… Continue reading

Wilfred Codrington in Balkinization Symposium on “A Real Right to Vote:” “A [More] Real Right to Vote”

March 11, 2024, 7:21 amReal Right to Vote, redistrictingRick Hasen

Wilfred’s post on my book, A Real Right to Vote: Many congratulations are due to Professor Richard L. Hasen on the publication of his newest book, A Real Right to Vote: How a Constitutional Amendment Can Safeguard American Democracy. In… Continue reading