Category Archives: redistricting

“Moore and Partisan Gerrymandering”

September 18, 2023, 7:38 amredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Manoj Mate has posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This article examines the impact of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Moore v. Harper on state partisan gerrymandering. Moore rejected the independent state legislature theory in affirming… Continue reading

Justice Thomas Asks for Response from Voting Rights Plaintiffs by Sept. 19 in Alabama’s Emergency Motion to Avoid Creating Second Black Opportunity District for Congress

September 13, 2023, 7:07 amredistricting, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Docket.

“Wisconsin’s Democratic governor rejects GOP’s surprise redistricting plan”

September 13, 2023, 6:52 amredistrictingRick Hasen

AP: Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers shot down as “bogus” a surprise plan Republicans floated Tuesday that would have the Legislature approve new maps drawn by nonpartisan staff, preempting the state Supreme Court from tossing the current GOP-drawn boundaries. The… Continue reading

“How the Supreme Court Should Respond to Alabama’s Defiance”

September 12, 2023, 10:22 amredistricting, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Kate Shaw for the NYT: Alabama’s appeal confronts the Supreme Court with a profound test. The case may appear to involve a set of technical questions about one state’s legislative map. But it is more fundamentally about whether the Supreme… Continue reading

“Alabama Asks Supreme Court to Revisit Dispute Over Congressional Map”

September 12, 2023, 7:44 amredistricting, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

NYT: Alabama filed an emergency application in the Supreme Court on Monday evening, asking the justices to keep in place for now a congressional map that a lower court had found failed to comply with orders to establish a second… Continue reading

“How a New City Council Map of L.A. Turned Into a Political Brawl”

September 11, 2023, 7:32 amredistrictingRick Hasen

NYT: The redistricting battle in Los Angeles underscores how some big city leaders — often Democrats — have used gerrymandering for their political advantage, much the way Republican lawmakers have redrawn legislative lines to secure or expand their control over… Continue reading

“Dems inch toward House majority with recent court wins”

September 11, 2023, 7:30 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Politico: The fundamentals of the 2024 campaign are still taking shape, but one thing is already clear: A flurry of court actions might cost Republicans the House majority. In the past nine days, state and federal judges threw out two… Continue reading

“Ohio will use same unconstitutional congressional maps in 2024, as court dismisses legal challenges”

September 7, 2023, 7:14 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Cleveland.com: Ohio will use the same congressional districts in 2024 that it used last year, as the Ohio Supreme Court on Thursday granted the dismissal of two legal challenges to the map the court previously deemed to be unconstitutionally gerrymandered… Continue reading

New Jersey Inquiry into Its Redistricting Process Finds “No Merit” to “Unspecified Claims of Improprieties” against Sam Wang and Princeton Redistricting Group; Inquiry Sees “Ample Room” for Improving the Process

September 6, 2023, 7:13 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Full report.

“Alabama will appeal rejection of congressional map to U.S. Supreme Court”

September 6, 2023, 7:05 amredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Al.com reports.

“Kennedy’s Supreme Court legacy is being erased, in part by past clerks”

September 4, 2023, 9:07 amredistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Deep dive by Bob Barnes for WaPo: Other changes attributable to Kennedy’s departure have drawn less attention. For years, Kennedy was alone among the conservative justices in believing extreme partisan gerrymandering —drawing legislative districts to favor the political party in… Continue reading

“A Georgia trial arguing redistricting harmed Black voters could decide control of a US House seat”

September 4, 2023, 7:44 amredistrictingRick Hasen

AP: Democrats could gain a seat in the U.S. House and multiple seats in Georgia’s Legislature if a judge rules Republicans drew maps illegally weakening Black voters’ power. The trial beginning Tuesday is part of a wave of litigation progressing… Continue reading

“Florida redistricting lawsuit overturns DeSantis map, empowers Black voters”

September 2, 2023, 2:36 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

The Tributary: A state judge struck down North Florida’s congressional districts Saturday, rebuffing Gov. Ron DeSantis’ open defiance of anti-gerrymandering protections, finding the governor’s map illegally reduced Black voters’ electoral power. DeSantis had wagered the state’s Fair Districts Amendment… Continue reading

“Federal judge to decide whether new Jefferson County Commission district lines are racially unfair”

September 1, 2023, 3:06 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

AL.com: The future leadership of Alabama’s largest county is in the hands of a federal judge who will decide whether Jefferson County commissioners gerrymandered district lines to dwarf the voting rights of Black residents. In a five-hour hearing Wednesday Judge… Continue reading