The 2020 California Citizens Redistricting Commission is seeking to retain Voting Rights Act Counsel and also Litigation Counsel. The two Requests for Information are at https://wedrawthelines.ca.gov/job_opportunities/. Interested individuals or firms with relevant experience are encouraged to apply to one or both. … Continue reading
Category Archives: citizen commissions
The Arizona Daily Star goes quite deep on the past, present, and future of Arizona’s Independent Redistricting Commission. … Continue reading
Michigan’s new independent commission law requires the Secretary of State to send hundreds of thousands of applications to randomly selected citizens … and the applications are now in the mail. … Continue reading
Ash Center: Today, the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, a research center at Harvard Kennedy School released “The Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission: One State’s Model for Gerrymandering Reform,” a new report detailing the lessons learned from Arizona’s innovative … Continue reading
Michael Wines for the NYT, on the ground in Wisconsin. … Continue reading
The SF Chronicle reports. … Continue reading
The SF Chronicle reports. … Continue reading
The SF Chronicle reports. … Continue reading
Mark Joseph Stern for Slate: As Talking Points Memo’s Tierney Sneed has observed, Gorsuch’s question effectively weaponizes redistricting reform as an argument againstfederal court intervention. His solution—let the people solve the problem—is absurd for at least two reasons: The court may … Continue reading
John Myers for the LAT: California government auditors will begin accepting applications in June from citizens who would like to help redraw the state’s congressional and legislative maps, a task with enormous political consequences.The once-a-decade redistricting process will also offer … Continue reading
The Arizona Capitol Times reports. … Continue reading
Durango Herald: A proposed ballot question that would change congressional redistricting in Colorado is being rewritten to address concerns raised by black and Latino voters. The bipartisan proposal has caused a bit of a rift within the Colorado Democratic Party, … Continue reading
CBS Miami: Oliva, who is set to take over as speaker of the House after the 2018 elections, said in the wake of the failed session that he was ready to consider an independent redistricting commission that would recommend maps … Continue reading
WaPo: Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) is breaking with other Democrats again over redistricting, saying she’s open to an independent commission proposed by Gov. Larry Hogan (R). “I have long supported redistricting reforms to end the damage partisan gerrymandering does to … Continue reading
Reid Wilson at Morning Consult. … Continue reading
Former CO SOS Scott Gessler in the Denver Post: Before celebrating redistricting commissions, The Denver Post should look at Colorado’s history with its so-called “independent” reapportionment commission. For three decades now, that commission has ruthlessly carved out partisan gerrymanders for our … Continue reading
NYT’s The UpShot. … Continue reading
Dan Morain reports. It would be nice if the question of independent redistricting were up to neither Charlie Munger nor the Supreme Court, but instead the people of the state of California. … Continue reading
The Hill reports. Even if such a measure passed (not bloody likely), it could well be unconstitutional. … Continue reading
LA Times: A U..S. Supreme Court case that could force California to redraw its congressional districts has stirred up fears of a return to partisan gerrymandering, a divisive process that has been criticized for both cementing and crushing political careers. … Continue reading
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel editorial. … Continue reading
Mark Joseph Stern at Slate on yesterday’s Arizona argument. … Continue reading
LAT NYT NPR Arizona Republic Politico WaPo National Journal WSJ SCOTUSBlog (and Plain English) Common Cause Think Progress More to come … Continue reading
My read of the transcript was no. But I’ve now heard from three very smart people I know who were in the courtroom who said Justice Kennedy seemed more in play in the case than it appeared to me from … Continue reading
I have now had a chance to review the transcript in Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission and the news is not good. It appears that the conservative Justices may be ready to hold that citizen redistricting commissions which have … Continue reading
Bauer blogs. … Continue reading
Lyle Denniston previews the Arizona redistricting case at SCOTUS. … Continue reading
National Constitution Center podcast: Michael Morley and Nick Stephanopoulos join our Jeffrey Rosen to discuss an upcoming Supreme Court case from Arizona that could dramatically shape the future of the legislative redistricting process. … Continue reading
Northwestern University Law Review Online is pleased to announce its publication of a podcast with Professor Michael Morley discussing his recent essay, The Intratextual Independent “Legislature” and the Elections Clause. In the essay, Professor Michael Morley assesses the Constitution’s Elections … Continue reading
Alan Morrison for ACS. … Continue reading
Nick Stephanopoulos LAT oped. … Continue reading
Brennan Center with a nice interactive map on the initiatives which could be in trouble under the Arizona redistricting case. … Continue reading
Northwestern University Law Review Online is pleased to announce its publication of Professor Michael Morley’s most recent essay, The Intratextual Independent “Legislature” and the Elections Clause. In the essay, Professor Michael Morley assesses the Constitution’s Elections Clause and how the Supreme Court might interpret the clause in Arizona State Legislature … Continue reading
Governing reports. … Continue reading
Here. … Continue reading
Here. … Continue reading
Read it. … Continue reading
Read it. … Continue reading
Here. … Continue reading
Michael Li oped. … Continue reading
George Skelton LAT column: Until last week, no Democratic state legislator running for reelection had lost to a Republican in 20 years. Then suddenly three did. When incumbents start losing their legislative seats, it means something is happening. The national … Continue reading
The Arizona Republic reports. … Continue reading
Lyle Denniston blogs. … Continue reading
Ian Millhiser blogs. … Continue reading
The number of election laws the Supreme Court has heard with a full argument has dropped off in recent years, I believe in part because voting rights advocates have tried to stay out of the Supreme Court. (See my ELJ … Continue reading
NY Law Journal: A judge Wednesday ordered state elections officials to delete the word “independent” from the description and text of a proposition on November’s general election ballot that would create a new commission to oversee the redrawing of congressional and state … Continue reading
Important report from Chris Megerian in the LAT. What’s really interesting is that Chris does not mention either the top-two primary or citizen redistricting as connected to this new (perhaps temporary) period of bipartisan cooperation. I’ve been skeptical of claims … Continue reading
AZ Capitol Times reports. … Continue reading
Today the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Commission on Political Reform rolled out its recommendations and report today on strengthening American democracy. Academics are usually on the outside looking in for such processes, but I was lucky enough to serve as one … Continue reading
Interesting post at Explaining Elections. … Continue reading