Category Archives: redistricting

5th Circuit ID ruling … and the Texas redistricting case.

April 27, 2018, 5:02 pmelection administration, election law and constitutional law, redistricting, voter id, Voting Rights ActJustin Levitt

Earlier today, Rick noted the 5th Circuit’s opinion on Texas’s voter ID law. I agree with much of his critique of the court’s resolution of the section 3(c) preclearance issue. In my post on the Texas redistricting cases earlier… Continue reading

Rick Pildes: “Why gerrymandering is going to get even worse”

April 26, 2018, 7:59 amredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Smart Rick Pildes at the Monkey Cage: We have had only two redistricting cycles (2000 and 2010) in this transformed political terrain. When the stakes are so high that partisan control of the House might hang in the balance, more… Continue reading

Does the Chief Justice or Justice Gorsuch Have the Majority Opinion in Gill v. Whitford, the Wisconsin Partisan Gerrymandering Case?

April 24, 2018, 7:32 amredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Tea leaf reading from my colleague Leah Litman: https://twitter.com/LeahLitman/status/988783108194385920 Let me lay out a marker and say that if the Chief has it, I think he’s more likely to be the sixth vote to rein in partisan gerrymandering than the… Continue reading

Texas redistricting and the travel ban

April 24, 2018, 5:11 amredistricting, Supreme CourtJustin Levitt

(X-posted at Take Care.) Two of the last SCOTUS mega-cases of the Term share a little something. This morning, the Supreme Court hears argument in the Texas redistricting case. Tomorrow, the Court considers Trump’s travel ban. They’re both massive… Continue reading

“An Antidote for Gobbledygook: Organizing the Judge’s Partisan Gerrymandering Toolkit into a Two-Part Test”

April 7, 2018, 8:55 amredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Sam Wang and Brian Remlinger have posted this timely draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The Supreme Court appears ready to limit extreme partisan gerrymanders. However, defining “extreme” is a challenging proposition, since individual states differ in their political… Continue reading

“Partisan Gerrymandering and the Constitutionalization of Statistics”

April 4, 2018, 8:55 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Jacob Eisler has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, Emory Law Journal). Here is the abstract: Data analysis has transformed the legal academy, and is now poised to do the same to constitutional law. In the latest round of partisan… Continue reading

“It’s harder for Democrats to gerrymander effectively”

April 3, 2018, 7:23 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Vox reports.

“Just how big of a hurdle is gerrymandering to Democrats’ taking back the House this November?”

April 1, 2018, 1:39 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

The Fix: But not everyone agrees with the Brennan Center’s conclusion that gerrymandering will be a nearly insurmountable hurdle to Democrats’ chances this November to win back the House. Yes, gerrymandering is something Democrats need to overcome, but it may… Continue reading

“One Theory or Several?”

March 29, 2018, 12:18 pmredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Ned Foley blogs on the partisan gerrymandering morass at the Supreme Court.

“How the Supreme Court and the Next Census Could Affect the Electoral Map”

March 29, 2018, 7:57 amredistrictingRick Hasen

The Economist: AS LONG as elections have been held, candidates have sought to bend the rules to their advantage. American political parties have taken gerrymandering to new heights, using computer models that enable districts to be crafted block by block… Continue reading

After the Maryland Redistricting Argument at the Supreme Court, Will the Effort to Rein In Partisan Gerrymandering End with a Whimper?

March 28, 2018, 8:40 pmredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

When the Supreme Court agreed to hold a full hearing in the Maryland redistricting case, Benisek v. Lamone, many of us wondered why the Court set a full hearing rather than simply hold the case for resolution of the… Continue reading

“Maryland’s electoral maps show how proportional representation could solve the problem of gerrymandering”

March 28, 2018, 5:26 pmalternative voting systems, redistrictingRick Hasen

Alex Keena, Michael Latner, Anthony J. McGann, and Charles Anthony Smith have written this post at the LSE Blog.… Continue reading

Benisek oral argument

March 28, 2018, 11:48 amredistrictingJustin Levitt

After a redistricting treatise this morning, just a snippet of follow-up for now. This morning, I suggested that the question on the substance of a First Amendment claim for the partisan gerrymandering cases — the question in line with… Continue reading

“Extreme Partisan Gerrymandering: The Supreme Court’s Play In 3 Acts”

March 28, 2018, 7:12 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Nina Totenberg for NPR’s Morning Edition: The First Amendment argument, however, appeals, in particular, to the justice whose vote is likely to decide the case, Justice Anthony Kennedy. In 2004, he provided the fifth vote for the court staying out… Continue reading