Last week was another busy week in redistricting. Three state supreme courts made rulings on newly adopted maps, one state enacted redistricting maps and another endured a gubernatorial veto.
Notable Court Decisions and Filings
North Carolina was easily the headliner last week after its State Supreme Court overturned a lower trial court decision upholding new congressional and state legislative maps against racial and partisan gerrymandering challenges. The court is giving the Republican-dominated legislature just 14 days to redraw all three maps (congressional, state Senate and state House). There is no guarantee that the legislature will make this deadline but either way, the lower trial court must approve remedial maps (either the legislature’s or their own) by Feb. 23. Read media coverage from NPR, New York Times, and CNN.
The Michigan State Supreme Court upheld the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission‘s maps against a minority vote dilution challenge under Section 2 Voting Rights Act (VRA). Read the Court’s opinion/order here. Plaintiffs, in this case, were contesting the elimination of two majority-minority (Black) districts that currently run through the largest concentration of the Black population in Detroit, Michigan. In the end, the court wanted more specific proof that the maps would keep minorities from choosing their preferred candidates in elections. Read media coverage from Detroit Free Press, Michigan Public Radio, and WDET.
In New Jersey, Republicans sued after the tiebreaker chairman of the NJ Redistricting Commission said publicly that he decided to vote for the Democratic map, only because the last redistricting map was drawn by the Republicans. Citing a flawed process mostly because of this statement, Republicans sued, asking the court to declare the adopted map invalid. The State Supreme Court declined to invalidate the map. Stating “This Court has no role in the outcome of the redistricting process unless the map [itself] is “unlawful. It is not the Court’s task to decide whether one map is fairer or better than another.” Read Media coverage from The New Jersey Globe, Politico, and the New Jersey Monitor.
In New York, a lawsuit was filed challenging the 2022 congressional map on Thursday, the same day that Gov. Hochul signed the map into law. The suit claims that the legislature violated state constitutional provisions banning partisan and incumbent-protection gerrymandering. Read media coverage from WIVB, New York Times, and theIcn.com. The redistricting process for Pennsylvania congressional districts has stalled, and the State Supreme Court issued an order on Wednesday taking over the process to redraw the map in time for upcoming elections. A special master must file a remedial map with the court on or before February 7, and the court will hold an oral argument on any exceptions filed to the special master’s map in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on February 18.
Map Activity
On Wednesday, Feb 3, the New York legislature passed congressional and state legislative maps. Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the new maps into law the next day. In Kansas, Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed the congressional redistricting map known as “Ad Astra 2,” which had been adopted by the legislature on Jan 26. The legislature may override the veto soon.
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