Reid Wilson: Nonpartisan redistricting proponents are turning to midterm election referendums in key states where legislative leaders have signaled no desire to give up their authority on drawing political boundaries. Voters in four states — Michigan, Missouri, Colorado and Utah … Continue reading
Category Archives: redistricting
Calling Michael McDonald: looks like another redistricting precinct error, but this time it may force a new vote. (The article discusses a bunch of issues beyond the precinct error, few of which seem related to the race in question.) … Continue reading
The Hill runs down the measures on the ballot this fall. … Continue reading
Here come the field generals for the 2021 redistricting wars. … Continue reading
Hansi Lo Wang, who’s been all over this issue, chronicles the memory loss. … Continue reading
Guy-Uriel Charles and Luis Fuentes-Rohwer have a new piece forthcoming in the Harvard Law Review, on partisan gerrymandering and justiciability: This paper examines the Court’s decision in Gil v. Whitford. It advances two claims. First, it provides a comprehensive account … Continue reading
NPR this morning, digging into the reasons why nonvoters don’t. … Continue reading
WRAL: North Carolina’s congressional races will be held this November under the current maps, and all six proposed amendments to the state constitution will be on the ballot as well. … Continue reading
Got to give a lot of credit to these groups for making this conclusion, given the national stakes of fixing the partisan gerrymander in North Carolina’s congressional districts: The Court asked the parties to “file briefs addressing whether [it] should … Continue reading
AP: A federal court has rejected a request from Virginia Republicans that an October deadline to complete a state-level redistricting process be put off until the U.S. Supreme Court weighs in on the case. … Continue reading
David Daley: It’s a necessary step if North Carolina wants a congressional delegation that reflects the state’s closely divided nature. Without this action, it would be easy for Republicans to exploit the slow-moving legal process, appeal to the U.S. Supreme … Continue reading
WaPo: North Carolina Republicans plan to ask the Supreme Court to “step in” and preserve the state’s congressional map ahead of November’s midterm election, after a lower court ruled that the current map was unconstitutional. “What the court suggests is … Continue reading
WaPo reports. … Continue reading
The Charlotte Observer reports. More from WaPo. My earlier coverage, including what’s likely to happen at the Supreme Court, is here. … Continue reading
In a case with potentially national implications both short term and long, a three judge district court in North Carolina has held that the congressional redistricting plan—put in place after North Carolina’s districts last time were found to be a … Continue reading
M Live: Supreme Court Justices Beth Clement and Kurtis Wilder were formally nominated by the Michigan Republican Party to run for reelection, despite organized opposition to Clement’s record on the state’s highest court. Both Wilder and Clement were appointed by … Continue reading
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Three federal judges have rejected a request by Republican elected leaders in Ohio to dismiss a lawsuit that says the judges should toss out the state’s congressional district map because it’s gerrymandered. Judges Karen Nelson Moore, Timothy … Continue reading
Richard Raile for Fed Soc writes. … Continue reading
You can find the petition at this link. The petition alleges that the district court was going to convene a three-judge court until the Chief Judge of the 9th Circuit told the judge not to do so: Petitioners claim no … Continue reading
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: Wisconsin’s redistricting case is headed back to a three-judge panel — but it will consist of a slightly different set of judges. Barbara Crabb, a U.S. district judge for Wisconsin’s western district, on Thursday withdrew from the case without … Continue reading
Guy Charles and Luis Fuentes-Rohwer for the HLR Blog. … Continue reading
You can find the 121 pages of opinions, which did not split simply by party lines, at this link. (Michael Li: Opinion is by Justice Vivano who is a Republican appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder. Justice Clement, another Republican Synder appointee … Continue reading
See here. … Continue reading
“Perfect. It’s giving the finger to Sandy Levin….I love it.” —One of the Republican line drawers in Michigan, describing the “finger-like” extensions to the shape of Rep. Levin’s contorted district, inav lawsuit defending the drawing of congressional districts as non-partisan, … Continue reading
From today’s opinion in State of NY v. US Dep’t of Commerce: Broadly speaking, in this Opinion, the Court reaches three conclusions with respect to Defendants’ motions. First, the Court categorically rejects Defendants’ efforts to insulate Secretary Ross’s decision to … Continue reading
The Bridge: Emails have emerged in a federal lawsuit that suggest Republicans gerrymandered congressional districts in Michigan in 2011 to maintain an advantage over Democrats, despite years of claims the lines are drawn without political bias. The lawsuit references private … Continue reading
Hansi Lo Wang for NPR: A few months after he started leading the Commerce Department, Secretary Wilbur Ross became impatient. As a powerful decider for the U.S. census, he had a keen interest in adding a citizenship question to the … Continue reading
Charles Fried for the HLR Blog: There is a clear constitutional warrant. As long ago as 1986, the Court recognized that partisan gerrymanders manifestly offend the Fourteenth Amendment’s constitutional guarantee of equal protection. They are also contrary to the First Amendment’s … Continue reading
Michael Wines reports for the NY Times. … Continue reading
NYT editorial. Nice @nytopinion piece on redistricting commissions, BUT…. They were ruled as constitutional by a 5-4 SCOTUS vote in 2015. One of the 5 was Justice Kennedy. Will the law change if Kavanaugh is confirmed?https://t.co/OShiRHNlJ9 — Ronald Klain (@RonaldKlain) … Continue reading
The Detroit News reports on oral arguments. … Continue reading
The Detroit News reports. … Continue reading
Detroit News: The Michigan Supreme Court’s Republican majority may decide the fate of a proposal that could dismantle political map-making rules that critics argue the GOP has manipulated to keep and grow power in Lansing and Washington, D.C. The state’s highest court … Continue reading
Sam Wang, Ben Williams, and Rick Ober in the American Prospect: With prospects for federal action on gerrymandering fading fast, it’s time to pursue reform through individual states. Such a federalist approach lacks the sweeping breadth of constitutional doctrine. But … Continue reading
NPR: “After the Supreme Court declined to make a decision about whether partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional, the issue is becoming a campaign issue for Democrats around the country.” … Continue reading
Daily Press: “Now on its way, for the second time to the U.S. Supreme Court, the cost to taxpayers of the House’s intervention in the case has reached $4,067,098.03, according to Speaker Kirk Cox’s office. (In addition, the attorney general … Continue reading
Jason Harrow in The Hill. I wouldn’t count on it, much as I like the First Amendment associational rights theory that he suggests. … Continue reading
Plaintiffs in Common Cause v. Rucho have filed a new brief before the three-judge district court addressing Gill‘s impact on both standing and the merits of their constitutional claims. The brief and exhibits along with a press release are available here. An excerpt from … Continue reading
Story and video here. One of the creators sends this message: My name is Josh Lafair, and I am a junior in high school. I have always believed that America, despite its polarization, is a great democracy. Then I learned … Continue reading
My thoughts on the Take Care Blog. … Continue reading
In Monkey Cage. Citing recent racial and partisan gerrymandering decisions, he concludes: Many experts, including me, had hoped the Supreme Court would declare a standard for finding districts had been unconstitutionally gerrymandered for partisan advantage that looked at effects statewide. … Continue reading
The Michigan Supreme Court’s order: On order of the Court, the motions for leave to file briefs amicus curiae and the motion for leave to file response to amicus curiae brief are GRANTED. The application for leave to appeal the … Continue reading
Just before the holiday, Rick posted a Texas redistricting update: the trial court issued a briefing order asking what’s left of the case after SCOTUS remand. Rick thought “there’s not much left to do.” But while most of the fireworks … Continue reading
Here’s the order. There’s not much left to do after the Supreme Court killed most of the plaintiffs’ case in Abbott v. Perez. My take at Slate: Suppression of Minority Voting Rights Is About to Get Way Worse. … Continue reading
Michael Wines for the NY Times: For 14 years, as partisan gerrymanders across the country grew more extreme, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy came to symbolize hopes that the Supreme Court would eventually rein them in. His retirement this week did … Continue reading
HuffPo: The NAACP and a handful of voters filed a lawsuit on Thursday to strike down the map for the Connecticut legislature before the 2020 election. The plaintiffs say that lawmakers are unconstitutionally drawing district lines when they count prisoners as … Continue reading
Breaking: Supreme Court affirms without opinion lower court order rejecting partisan gerrrymandering claim in North Carolina https://t.co/GDhucsNWGM But two other cases remain pending and will work their way back to Court next term. This is somewhat of a surprise /1 … Continue reading
As I expected, the 3 judge court in the North Carolina partisan gerrymandering case has set a quick schedule to consider standing issues under Gill following a Supreme Court remand. Briefs are due July 11. Assuming the lower court issues an … Continue reading
James Lucas for National Review. … Continue reading