February Redistricting News Update

February Redistricting News Update

By Michelle DavisMar 01, 2019
On RedistrictingOnline . SCOTUSBLOG SYMPOSIUM IN ANTICIPATION OF ORAL ARGUMENTS IN PARTISAN GERRYMANDERING CASES WATCH: A MATHEMATICAL MEASUREMENT OF PARTISAN GERRYMANDERING WATCH: PANEL DISCUSSES ELECTION ADMINISTRATION, REDISTRICTING AND CAMPAIGN FINANCE . Around the Web . Michigan: Partisan Gerrymandering Trial Begins in Federal District Court Michigan's Republican drawn congressional and state legislative district maps went on trial in a federal district court on Tuesday, February 5th. Democratic and reform activist (Common Cause) plaintiffs claim that both quantitative research and insider emails show the state’s last redistricting was a conscious Republican gerrymander. . Pennsylvania: Penn State Student Wins Redistricting Map Challenge . Mississippi: Voting Rights Act…
Monthly Redistricting Update, NEWS
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SCOTUSblog Symposium in Anticipation of Oral Arguments in Partisan Gerrymandering Cases

By Michelle DavisFeb 25, 2019
. The Supreme Court will hear oral argument in two key partisan gerrymandering cases on March 26; one from Maryland (Benesik v. Lamone) and one from North Carolina (Rucho v. Common Cause). In preparation for these arguments, the editors at SCOTUSblog hosted this pre-argument symposium featuring a group of experts on redistricting law. Here is a quick summary of each contributor's essay. You can click to read each article in full. . Justin Levitt: Suggests that the unconstitutionality of excessive partisan gerrymandering follows from the fact that there is widespread agreement (in the legal community) that any State law that…
FEATURES, LAW, Partisan Gerrymandering, Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanders, Redistricting Litigation, , , , ,
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Panel Discusses Election Administration, Redistricting and Campaign Finance

Panel Discusses Election Administration, Redistricting and Campaign Finance

By EditorFeb 06, 2019
On Thursday, January 31, a panel of professors and activists met to discuss the state of the American election system. Here is the description provided by the Hammer Forum of UCLA: . "The 2018 midterm elections revealed egregious voter suppression tactics and mismanagement of polling places but also slate of new reforms that eliminate barriers to voting for many Americans. Kathay Feng, California Common Cause executive director; Franita Tolson, USC Gould School of Law professor; Justin Levitt, Loyola Law School professor; and Michael Morley, Florida State University law professor, discuss the future of voting rights and election laws with moderator Rick Hasen, UC Irvine…
LATEST, POLICY and PRACTICE, Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanders, SCHOLARSHIP, , , , , , , ,
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Watch: A Mathematical Measurement of Partisan Gerrymandering

Watch: A Mathematical Measurement of Partisan Gerrymandering

By Michelle DavisFeb 05, 2019
. Researchers at Duke University do a good job explaining their quantitative analysis of North Carolina’s congressional redistricting maps in lay terms. In this video they present fairly solid statistical proof that partisan gerrymandering indeed can be sniffed out by statistical algorithms that show when a map is the result of intentional and precise human design, and not mere adjustment of the boundaries that are already there. Of course, this only proves that partisan gerrymandering exists, and it is a helpful measure of the stark differences in the election results between a map drawn with precise political motivations versus on…
DATA and TECHNOLOGY, LATEST, NEWS, Partisan Gerrymandering, Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanders, VIDEO, ,
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Redistricting Reform Advocates Strategize at Gerrymandering Summit

Redistricting Reform Advocates Strategize at Gerrymandering Summit

By EditorJan 22, 2019
The USC Sol Price School of Public Policy hosted the "Terminate Gerrymandering Summit and Fair Maps Incubator " Conference earlier this month as part of an effort to take advantage of the momentum that independent redistricting commission movements have created across the country with several states passing ballot initiatives to create "California Style" commissions. . The project is the brainchild of former CA governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The institute on campus that bears his name hosted this event at which he was the keynote speaker. Schwarzenegger explains that he wants to "accelerate the fight, bringing together those who’ve won nonpartisan redistricting…
NEWS, Redistricting Commissions, Redistricting Gerrymanders, REFORM, Strategy and Politics, ,
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Federal Court Rejects a Citizenship Question for the 2020 Census

Federal Court Rejects a Citizenship Question for the 2020 Census

By EditorJan 15, 2019
A New York federal district court has rejected the administration's bid to place a citizenship question on the upcoming 2020 census. The U.S. Department of Commerce, which is the main defendant in the lawsuit, will most likely appeal this decision but this just deepens the legal, financial and operational challenges that the Census Bureau must endure just under 15 months away from the 2020 census, the data from which, states and local governments will use to redraw electoral lines. NPR lists the possible effects that the current government shutdown and this lawsuit will have on census 2020 planning here. Read…
Census Data and Geography, DATA and TECHNOLOGY, LATEST, LAW, NEWS, Redistricting, Redistricting Litigation, Strategy and Politics, , , , , ,
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Are Redistricting Commissions in Danger?

Are Redistricting Commissions in Danger?

By Michelle DavisJan 09, 2019
Arizona, California and more recently, Ohio are among the handful of states that have established independent redistricting commissions by ballot measures. The U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld a challenge to Arizona's commission, but at least one election law expert warns that the court may reverse itself on this question in the future. Rick Hasen, Professor of law and political science at the University of California, Irvine believes this is a real possibility. Read the article in the Atlantic.
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MD and NC Partisan Gerrymandering Cases Return to the U.S. Supreme Court

By Michelle DavisJan 08, 2019
On January 4th, the U.S. Supreme Court took up two long-standing partisan gerrymandering challenges on appeal from two federal district courts; one in Maryland and the other in North Carolina.  The question in both of these cases was not whether there was partisan gerrymandering in the making of these maps. Instead it was whether this type of partisan gerrymandering is constitutional or not.  The high court has seemed to duck and weave whenever it has been presented with this question in the past, but this time it feels different. Below is a little background to provide some context for the…
LAW, NEWS, Partisan Gerrymandering, Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanders, Uncategorized, , , , , , ,
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Maryland’s Sixth District Ruled a Partisan Gerrymander by Federal District Court

Maryland’s Sixth District Ruled a Partisan Gerrymander by Federal District Court

By Michelle DavisNov 14, 2018
On November 7th, after managing a protracted series of procedural issues involving a lawsuit that was initially filed in 2013, a federal district court panel invalidated Maryland's 6th congressional district on grounds that it was an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.  Maryland has until early March 2019 to enact a new congressional map or the court will create its own commission to do so. This case is notable since the court overturned the map on 1st amendment grounds instead of the 14th amendment, which until recently had been the basis for most if not all partisan gerrymandering challenges. (more…)
LAW, NEWS, Partisan Gerrymandering, Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanders, Redistricting Litigation, Uncategorized, , , , , , , ,
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