The TBD details on California’s redistricting special election

August 14, 2025, 3:34 pmelection law and constitutional law, political parties, redistricting, The Voting WarsJustin Levitt

Justin here. Today, California Gov. Newsom announced what he’d been foreshadowing for a while now — an effort to seek voters’ approval for new congressional district lines in a Nov. 4 special election. (Rick noted the border patrol “escort” for… Continue reading

Annals of Authoritarianism: Trump’s Military Agents Appear Outside California Governor Gavin Newsom’s Press Conference on Redistricting Reform

August 14, 2025, 3:02 pmauthoritarian threats in USRick Hasen

Truly frightening stuff: As Gov. Gavin Newsom prepared to announce that he would take on President Trump’s redistricting plans on behalf of California, scores of federal immigration agents massed outside the venue Thursday. Newsom was set to speak at… Continue reading

“The Dangers of America’s Gerrymandering Problem—And How to Fix It”

August 14, 2025, 2:59 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

Benjamin Schneer and Maxwell Palmer in TIME: Instead, we believe it is possible to make reforms that keep the current electoral system while also overcoming some of its flaws. We’ve developed a process-based solution that has a number of… Continue reading

NVRA Case Against Virginia Voter Purge Purportedly to Remove Non-Citizens Survives Motion to Dismiss

August 14, 2025, 1:01 pmNVRA (motor voter), voter registrationRick Hasen

See this press release from the Lawyers’ Committee about this ruling from a federal district court partially denying the state’s motion to dismiss.

“The Racial Gap in Trust in Elections (and How to Close It)”

August 14, 2025, 12:56 pmelection administrationRick Hasen

Laura Uribe, Kailen Aldridge, Thad Kousser, Kyshan Nichols-Smith, and Tye Rush have written this article in Political Science Quarterly (also a version here without a subscription). Here is the abstract: While the contemporary conversation about trust in U.S. elections focuses… Continue reading

Fifth Circuit Affirms Lower Court Ruling that Louisiana STATE Legislative Maps Violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act

August 14, 2025, 10:26 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Per curiam opinion here (with one judge concurring in the judgment). At the end of the opinion, the court rejects a constitutional challenge to Section 2. The Louisiana v. Callais case currently before the Supreme Court concerns Louisiana’s congressional maps.

“How to Avoid a Gerrymandering War”

August 14, 2025, 8:33 amUncategorizedNicholas Stephanopoulos

Ron Brownstein in Bloomberg (paywalled). “The current House is unusual in the modern era in being very close to perfectly neutral according to various measures of partisan bias,” Nicholas Stephanopoulos, a professor at Harvard Law School and expert in redistricting,… Continue reading

“Poll: California voters back independent congressional maps, complicating Gavin Newsom’s redistricting push”

August 14, 2025, 7:54 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Politico: California Gov. Gavin Newsom faces a major hurdle in his quest to revamp his state’s congressional lines, according to a new poll: Californians’ deep support for its current independent redistricting commission. By nearly a two-to-one margin, voters prefer… Continue reading

“A strange GOP divide is forming over Trump’s gerrymandering plans”

August 14, 2025, 7:50 amredistrictingRick Hasen

Politico: President Donald Trump’s aggressive redistricting push is sparking public concern from an unusual mix of Republicans. Resistance to mid-decade redraws is running the ideological gamut and cutting across levels of government. While many are backing Trump’s gambit to protect… Continue reading

“Trump Isn’t the Only One to Blame for the Gerrymander Mess”

August 14, 2025, 7:44 amredistricting, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

David Daley NYT oped: President Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Texas Republicans have reignited the gerrymandering wars. The brazen power grab in Texas pushed Democrats to start their own efforts to unravel independent commissions established by voters, and now… Continue reading

“Hispanic Democratic Officials in Texas Plead Not Guilty to Voter Fraud”

August 13, 2025, 1:49 pmchicaneryRick Hasen

NYT: Nine Latino Democratic officials and political operatives pleaded not guilty on Wednesday in South Texas to charges of criminal voter fraud, accusations that their defenders called blatant voter suppression and political intimidation by the state’s Republican attorney general. Gerry… Continue reading

“The Downballot’s live guide to redistricting in every state”

August 13, 2025, 1:45 pmredistrictingRick Hasen

The Downballot: At Donald Trump’s instigation, Republican lawmakers across the country are moving forward with plans to redraw their congressional maps outside of the normal once-a-decade redistricting process—purely for partisan political gain. In response, Democrats nationwide are preparing to counter… Continue reading

“No Longer ‘Dead Brad Walking’: Georgia’s Election Chief Makes a Comeback”

August 13, 2025, 8:01 amUncategorizedRichard Pildes

From the WSJ, which is paywalled: Five years ago, Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was banished to the political wilderness. Donald Trump blamed the mild-mannered election chief for his narrow 2020 Georgia defeat, branding him a RINO… Continue reading

“How a U.S. Senate Race Is Shaping the Fight Over Redistricting in Texas”

August 13, 2025, 7:51 ampolitical parties, political polarization, redistrictingRick Hasen

NYT: The standoff in Texas over redrawing the state’s U.S. House districts to a sharply tilted Republican advantage has played out before the backdrop of a contentious U.S. Senate race that may well be making the redistricting fight more… Continue reading