Category Archives: redistricting

“The Predominance Test: A Judicially Manageable Compactness Standard for Redistricting”

August 7, 2019, 4:46 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

Michael McDonald has written this article for the Yale Law Journal Forum. Here is the abstract: Scholars have proposed more than one hundred measures of district compactness to analyze legislative maps, but each of these measures lacks a critical threshold… Continue reading

North Carolina Governor and Attorney General File Amicus Briefs Supporting Plaintiffs in State Partisan Gerrymandering Case

August 7, 2019, 3:07 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

The Democratic governor and AG versus the Republican-dominated North Carolina General Assembly.

Former North Carolina Governors File Amicus Brief Supporting Plaintiffs in State Partisan Gerrymandering Case

August 7, 2019, 10:45 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Read it here (via Melissa Boughton).

“Republicans Say the First Amendment Protects the Right to Gerrymander”

August 5, 2019, 3:32 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

Leah Litman for Slate.

“Republicans sue to block Michigan redistricting commission”

July 30, 2019, 7:00 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Detroit News: Republicans are suing to stop Michigan’s new citizen redistricting commission before it begins, alleging the voter-approved amendment is “blatantly unconstitutional” and discriminates against participants based on political service or family ties.The federal lawsuit, filed Tuesday morning with the… Continue reading

“GOP could dodge Gov. Evers to gerrymander Wisconsin again”

July 29, 2019, 8:26 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Wisconsin Examiner: Now Democrats and fair-maps advocates are worried that Republicans might make an end-run around Evers by means of a joint resolution, passing a new map through the Assembly and Senate. Because joint resolutions do not require the… Continue reading

“Redrawing Maps the Right Way”

July 25, 2019, 10:19 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

Frank Strigari, general counsel for the Ohio Senate, and Jeff Wice, an attorney for the New York Assembly have written Redrawing Maps the Right Way. It’s in NCSL’s magazine, State Legislature. A rare bipartisan piece.

“Women, nonwhites wanted: California redistricting panel struggles for diversity”

July 25, 2019, 10:08 pmcitizen commissions, redistrictingRick Hasen

The SF Chronicle reports.

Breaking: In Major Decision, 3-Judge Federal District Court Unanimously Rejects Motion to Put Texas Back Under Federal Supervision over Voting, Despite Continuing Concerns About Texas’s Intentional Racial Discrimination

July 24, 2019, 7:59 amredistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

A three-judge federal district court, which earlier had found that Texas engaged in intentional racial discrimination against African-Americans and Latinos in passing its 2011 redistricting plan has refused to put Texas back under federal supervision for voting. Before the Supreme… Continue reading

Hofeller files come into court in North Carolina state gerrymandering case

July 20, 2019, 11:24 ampolitical parties, redistrictingJustin Levitt

Courthouse News Service reviews the end of week one of trial.

“The Way the Census Counts Prison Populations Seriously Distorts Redistricting”

July 19, 2019, 10:39 amredistrictingJustin Levitt

Mekela Panditharatne talks prison gerrymandering in Slate.

“America’s Historic Fight Over Who Deserves Representation”

July 19, 2019, 10:39 amcensus litigation, election law and constitutional law, redistrictingJustin Levitt

Michael Li, in Slate, on the census, citizenship, and representation. Related: the Council on Foreign Relations gets in on the discussion too.

The long arm of Gill

July 19, 2019, 10:38 amelection law and constitutional law, political equality, redistrictingJustin Levitt

Mississippi cites Gill v. Whitford in contesting challengers’ standing to contest the requirement that statewide candidates win both a majority of the state and a majority of state house districts. And the Court’s refusal to recognize that redistricting problems are … Continue reading

“Drawing new congressional lines won’t be easy for Democrats”

July 19, 2019, 10:38 ampolitical parties, redistrictingJustin Levitt

Nathan Gonzales in Roll Call counting an awful lot of chickens: Democrats’ potential challenge in the next round of redistricting will be drawing new lines at the apex of electoral performance.