Redistricting Headlines Jan 24, 2022: Ohio Commission Adopts New Maps Under Court Ordered Wire. 3 New Lawsuits Filed in 3 States.

By EditorJan 24, 2022

Last week was a busy one in the states for redistricting. It brought two new sets of maps and three lawsuits. The Ohio Redistricting Commission adopted a 2nd set of Senate and House maps by a 5-2 vote on Jan 22. The maps will be effective only for a 4-yr period (as opposed to the usual 10) because the map did not pass with the requisite bipartisan support required under state law. On Jan 14th the state Supreme Court invalidated Ohio's 2021 congressional map, giving the commission just 10 days to adopt another. The Connecticut Reapportionment failed to meet its deadline to…

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Michigan Commission’s Congressional Map gets a New Challenge in Federal Court

By EditorJan 24, 2022

A federal lawsuit challenging the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission's newly adopted congressional map was filed last week. In what could be a test of how federal courts view the relatively strict population equality standard of the U.S. Constitution, the lawsuit is alleging that the individual congressional district populations are not sufficiently equal. Read the complaint. The congressional map is also being challenged in state court, see Detroit Caucus v. Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission. The federal lawsuit also alleged several other failings of the commission's map including failure to follow the required state legal criteria regarding honoring communities of interest,…

Casedocs, LAW, NEWS, Redistricting, Redistricting Equal Population, Redistricting Functions, Redistricting Litigationequal population, lawindepth, Michigan, redistricting commissions, STATENEWS

Kentucky Lawsuit Challenges New Congressional and State House Districts

By EditorJan 24, 2022

Redistricting in Kentucky came to a head last week after the Governor vetoed congressional and State House district maps passed by the Republican legislature (the senate map was not vetoed or signed by the governor and were enacted automatically). The next day, the legislature overrode the vetoes and Democrats promptly sued. Read the case here. Read the lawsuit here. News Coverage Lawsuit calls new Kentucky redistricting maps a 'geographical absurdity' (wdrb.com) See you in court: the legal battle over drawing lines this week on Capitol Chat (wuky.org) Are Kentucky's redistricting maps gerrymandered? UK election law expert weighs in. (lex18.com) Find…

Casedocs, Redistricting, Redistricting LitigationKentucky, lpstatelaw, partisan gerrymandering, STATENEWS

Listen: Wisconsin State Supreme Court Oral Argument in Redistricting Challenge

By EditorJan 24, 2022

On Nov 18, 2021, Dem. Governor Tony Evers vetoed the congressional and state Senate and House maps passed by the Wisconsin legislature a week earlier. The State Supreme Court took jurisdiction and heard oral arguments on Jan 19, 2022. Listen to the argument below. Learn more about the case in the case library. The court decided in November to take the approach of redrawing the maps as minimally as possible to comply with state and federal law as opposed to drawing districts from scratch. According to the Wisconsin Examiner, the justices "focused their questions on how to balance competing interests…

LAW, NEWS, Redistricting, State Lawslpstatelaw, oral argument, state supreme court, STATENEWS, Wisconsin

Redistricting Headlines Jan 17 2022: Ohio Maps Cancelled by Court. NC Map Decision Gets Appealed. PA Congressional Redistricting in Disarray.

By EditorJan 17, 2022

Redistricting Headlines for the week of January 10th 2022. Thie biggest news from last week comes from Ohio, where the State Supreme Court delivered a one-two punch to lawmakers by invalidating the state legislative district map on Wednesday and striking down the congressional map on Friday. It described the maps as "infused with undue partisan bias," and "incomprehensibly, more extremely biased than the 2011 plan that it replaced". This last point refers to the constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2018, which banned partisan gerrymandering when redrawing maps. To encourage bipartisan line-drawing, the constitutional provision also called for maps to…

NEWS, Redistrictingheadlines

In One-Two Punch, Ohio Supreme Court Invalidates New Congressional Map Just 2 Days After Striking House and Senate Districts

By EditorJan 15, 2022

On Friday, the Ohio State Supreme Court announced its decision to invalidate the Republican-drawn 2021 congressional map, explaining that it "stacks the deck" against the opposite party. Voters in 2018 amended the state's constitution to prohibit excessive partisan map-drawing and the court concluded that the new map was a product of just that. Read the opinion and excerpts below. The now invalidated map had failed to pass the legislature by a supermajority vote and thus under the constitution, it would have only been in effect for 4 years. With the court's ruling on Friday, the legislature will have 30 days…

Case Updates, Casedocs, LATEST, NEWS, Redistricting, Redistricting Litigationlawindepth, lpstatelaw, Ohio, STATENEWS

Ohio Supreme Court Invalidates 2021 Senate and House Maps. Gives Commission 10 Days to Draw New Maps

By EditorJan 12, 2022

On Wednesday, Jan. 12th, The Ohio Supreme Court invalidated Republican-drawn state House and Senate district maps as partisan gerrymandering under the Ohio Constitution. The justices struck down the maps in a 4-3 decision, sending the maps back to the Commission with just a 10-day window to redraw the maps. Read the opinion below. "We hold that the plan is invalid because the commission did not attempt to draw a plan that meets the proportionality standard in Article XI, Section 6(B). We also conclude that the commission did not attempt to draw a plan that meets the standard in Section 6(A)—that…

Case Updates, Casedocs, LATEST, LAW, NEWS, Partisan Gerrymandering, Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanders, Redistricting Litigation, State Lawslawindepth, lpstatelaw, Ohio, partisan gerrymandering, STATENEWS

North Carolina’s Redistricting Maps Upheld by State Trial Court

By EditorJan 12, 2022

On Wednesday, Jan. 11th a North Carolina state trial court upheld the congressional and state legislative maps drawn by the Republican-dominated legislature in Nov of 2021. Read the opinion and excerpts below. Here is a breakdown of the court's conclusions of law regarding each allegation: Partisan Gerrymandering in Violation of the NC Constitution's Free Elections Clause: "The Free Elections Clause does not operate as a restraint on the General Assembly’s ability to redistrict for partisan advantage." Equal Protection Clause of the NC Constitution: "The Court finds that the plans are amply supported by arational basis and thus do not violate…

Case Updates, Casedocs, LATEST, LAW, NEWS, Partisan Gerrymandering, Racial Gerrymandering, Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanders, Redistricting Litigation, State Lawslawindepth, lpstatelaw, North Carolina, partisan gerrymandering, STATENEWS

Redistricting Update: 7 States Poised to Pass Maps Soon

By EditorJan 11, 2022

It's the second week of the new year and 7 states are actively considering redistricting maps and poised to finalize a map or maps in the coming weeks. Here is a rundown. Kansas began its legislative session on the 10th and will take up congressional and state legislative redistricting, but likely at a much slower pace than most of the other states on this list. According to the Topeka-Capital Journal, "Kansas is one of only three states where no proposed maps have been publicly released . . . the equipment used for redistricting only arrived in the Statehouse in the…

NEWS, Redistrictingheadlines, STATENEWS

Watch: New York Redistricting Commission Deadlocks on Maps

By EditorJan 04, 2022

The New York State Independent Redistricting Commission met on Monday, Jan 3, but could not come to a consensus on any redistricting map. The members split 5-5 on votes for congressional, state senate, and state house maps. Instead, the commission sent two versions of each to the state legislature for consideration. The meeting was contentious at times. Watch the meeting below. The legislature must adopt one of the commission's maps by a two-thirds vote, if they do not adopt a map the commission will get a second chance at recommending a set of maps by a Feb. 28, 2022 deadline.…

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