Category Archives: redistricting

“Gerrymandering and the Constitutional Norm Against Government Partisanship”

August 16, 2017, 7:19 amredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

This looks good! Michael Kang has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, Michigan Law Review). Here is the abstract: The Article challenges the basic premise in the law of partisan gerrymandering that government partisan purpose is constitutional at all. The… Continue reading

“Federal court invalidates part of Texas congressional map”

August 15, 2017, 8:40 pmredistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Texas Tribune reports.

Breaking: 3-Judge Court Issues Latest Order in Texas Redistricting Case (Congressional Seats), Finding Continued Intentional Racial Discrimination

August 15, 2017, 3:00 pmredistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

You can find the court’s 107-page order here. From the conclusion: In Part II, the Court concludes that the racially discriminatory intent and effects that it previously found in the 2011 plans carry over into the 2013 plans where… Continue reading

NC: “Redistricting criteria call for partisan maps, no consideration of race”

August 10, 2017, 5:10 pmredistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

WRAL: Map makers can use election data to achieve political goals as they redraw North Carolina’s legislative districts, but they’re forbidden from considering voters’ race under criteria approved Thursday by the House and Senate committees overseeing the process. These rules… Continue reading

Likely the Most Important Brief Filed in the WI Partisan Gerrymandering Case Supports Neither Party

August 10, 2017, 3:23 pmredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

This from Bernie Grofman and Keith Gaddie (with the great Josh Rosenkranz as counsel of record) may be the most important brief filed in the Gill case case: Amici seek to assist the Court in understanding recent developments in social… Continue reading

“Measuring Efficiency in Redistricting”

August 10, 2017, 7:46 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Eric McGhee has posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: There has been a recent surge in work on measuring partisan bias in single-member (SMD) redistricting plans. A classic SMD gerrymander is “efficient”: it “cracks” a party’s supporters… Continue reading

“A Summer School for Mathematicians Fed Up with Gerrymandering”

August 9, 2017, 1:45 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

The New Yorker reports.

SCOTUSBlog Symposium on Gill v. Whitford, the WI Partisan Gerrymandering Case

August 8, 2017, 8:33 amredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

First entries from: Amy Howe (explainer). Thomas Wolf.

“The U.S. could be free of gerrymandering. Here’s how other countries do redistricting.”

August 7, 2017, 7:43 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Bernie Grofman and German Feierherd for the Monkey Cage.

“Here’s your chance to comment on shape of maps to correct NC gerrymanders”

August 3, 2017, 6:08 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

News & Observer: North Carolina Republicans have begun to release details of their schedule for drawing new boundaries to correct legislative districts found unconstitutional by the federal courts. But they have not presented any maps to the public yet.… Continue reading

Republican National Committee Files SCOTUS Brief Arguing Against Finding of Partisan Gerrymandering in WI Case

August 3, 2017, 5:58 pmredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Read it here.

“The Institutional Case for Partisan Gerrymandering Claims”

August 3, 2017, 2:01 pmredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Mike Parsons has posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: For voters hoping the Supreme Court’s 2017 Term brings relief from partisan gerrymandering, the end of the 2016 Term was inauspicious. In Cooper v. Harris, the majority assumed… Continue reading