Category Archives: redistricting

Breaking: Supreme Court, in Bizarre Unsigned Opinion, Strikes Wisconsin Legislative Maps on Voting Rights Grounds, Signalling New Hostility to the Voting Rights Act

March 23, 2022, 9:49 amredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

In a per curiam (unsigned) opinion on the shadow docket, over the dissent of Justices Kagan and Sotomayor, the Supreme Court has rejected a redistricting plan that a divided Wisconsin Supreme Court had adopted for drawing state assembly and senate… Continue reading

BREAKING: Supreme Court says Wisconsin Supreme Court erred in interpreting Voting Rights Act and Equal Protection Clause precedents when adopting state legislative maps

March 23, 2022, 9:35 amredistrictingDerek Muller

The Court’s per curiam opinion in Wisconsin Legislature v. Wisconsin Elections Commission is here. Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justice Kagan, dissented. (More coverage to come later today.) The bottom line: We agree that the court committed legal error in… Continue reading

“With 6 weeks until Ohio’s primary, many voting districts still haven’t been decided”

March 23, 2022, 4:49 amredistrictingDerek Muller

NPR: Voters in Ohio are supposed to be able to vote in the state’s May 3 primary – up and down the ballot – but with just six weeks to go, the voting districts for the state legislature haven’t… Continue reading

“California Legislature upended by new political maps”

March 22, 2022, 5:23 pmlegislation and legislatures, redistrictingDerek Muller

Associated Press: “New political maps have upended the California Legislature this year by prodding more than two-dozen state lawmakers into early retirement or career changes, while others are forced into unfamiliar new districts ahead of the November election.”

Poll: “Very Few Voters Understand What’s Happening With Redistricting”

March 21, 2022, 11:41 amredistrictingDerek Muller

Some fascinating responses in this Morning Consult survey about public awareness and perception about redistricting and thoughts on redistricting rationales.

“Democratic gains in legislative maps might not last long”

March 20, 2022, 2:37 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

AP: The surprising advantage Democrats gained during the torturous process of rewriting the nation’s congressional maps may be short-lived, creating the potential for more frequent clashes over how political power should be distributed across the United States.As the once-a-decade… Continue reading

“Ohio Republicans discussing impeachment of Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor after map ruling”

March 18, 2022, 11:19 amchicanery, redistrictingRick Hasen

Columbus Dispatch: House Republicans are discussing whether to impeach Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor after the Ohio Supreme Court rejected a third set of legislative maps and effectively ended all hope of a full May 3rd primary.The court struck down… Continue reading

“Gov. Sununu promises veto for NH Republicans’ redrawn congressional map”

March 18, 2022, 6:50 amredistrictingRick Hasen

WMUR: Gov. Chris Sununu said Thursday he will veto the congressional redistricting map approved by his fellow Republicans in the New Hampshire Legislature.The map has been hotly debated for months. In the once-a-decade redistricting process, New Hampshire House Republicans… Continue reading

“In Ohio, a Standoff Over Political Maps Threatens the Next Elections”

March 17, 2022, 4:05 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

Michael Wines for the NYT.

“Ohio Supreme Court rejects Republicans’ third set of state legislative maps”

March 17, 2022, 7:03 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Cleveland.com: The Ohio Supreme Court, for a third time, has rejected Republicans’ state legislative maps, a move that state legislative leaders have said likely will result in a delay for at least part of the May primary.In … Continue reading

“Exercise in Tediousness:” “Federal panel to decide fate of Mich. congressional map after unequal population complaints”

March 17, 2022, 7:00 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Detroit News: A federal three-judge panel will decide whether Michigan’s newly adopted congressional district map should be redrawn to secure more equal populations after more than an hour of arguments Wednesday that one judge described as an “exercise in tediousness.”An… Continue reading

David Toscano: “State Supreme Courts Open New Front in the War on Hyperpartisan Redistricting”

March 11, 2022, 8:24 amredistrictingRick Hasen

The following is a guest post from David Toscano: Ohio, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina have been on the frontlines of partisan division for over a decade, often being viewed as swing states in national electoral contests. Now, each state’s… Continue reading

Wisconsin Republican Members of Congress File Emergency Supreme Court Petition to Block New Wisconsin Congressional Districts Ordered by State Supreme Court (Link to Petition)

March 10, 2022, 8:47 amredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

The petition raises due process and one person, one vote arguments, so different than other recent challenges to congressional districting done by state supreme courts and challenged at SCOTUS.

Rucho v. Common Cause and a weak version of the claims in the North Carolina partisan gerrymandering dispute

March 8, 2022, 8:10 amredistrictingDerek Muller

Some commentary, here at ELB and elsewhere, has critiqued some of the justices’ statements in Moore v. Harper, the partisan gerrymandering case out of North Carolina, as inconsistent with the Court’s decision in Rucho v. Common Cause. But… Continue reading