Print News Coverage of the Supreme Court’s Arizona Redistricting Commission Decision Monday

By EditorJun 30, 2015

Print News Coverage of the Supreme Court's Arizona Redistricting Commission Decision Monday SCOTUSBLOG: Chief Justices' Robert's broad stance on the meaning of "Legislature" in the Arizona Redistricting case versus a narrow reading of "Legislature" in his Affordable Care Act case dissent. NPR: Law Prof. Rick Hasen speaks to NPR about Chief Justice Robert's dissent and his doubts about whether nonpartisan commissions could ever be nonpartisan. NYT: On why independent redistricting commissions don't necessarily favor liberals. Slate: Rick Hasen on "Mindless literalist interpretations in the service of conservative causes," and how the Arizona decision undermines Bush v. Gore.

Redistricting CommissionsArizona, Independent Redistricting Commission

Who Tells Martin Luther King “Thanks But No Thanks?” – Explore this Civil Rights History Project

By EditorJun 15, 2015

In this 50th year following the enactment of the Voting Rights Act a new website has launched that will peer deep into the roots of the civil rights movement that sparked the nationwide call for racial justice. Duke University collaborates for the first time with SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) founding members to provide more than just a timeline and recount of history. (more…)

Uncategorizedcivil rights, Duke University, featured, onevotesncc.org, sncc

Supreme Court Looks Past Weak Pleadings to Find Potential Racial Gerrymander in Alabama Map

By EditorApr 14, 2015

The Supreme Court’s recent opinion remanding a challenge by Black state officials to the 2012 Alabama Legislative district map back to a federal district court is relatively short for a majority opinion but chock full of legal nuggets as the justices’ focused on several bases for returning this case back to a lower court to reconsider its ruling against the plaintiffs. In all, the decision discussed four distinct issues; two procedural and two substantive – it felt the lower court bungled. If we had to explain the four corners of the Alabama opinion in one sentence it would be; The…

NEWS, Racial Gerrymandering, Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanders, Redistricting Litigation, Redistricting Race RulesAlabama, black caucus, lawid

Yakima City Council Settles on ACLU Map

By EditorApr 08, 2015

Washington: On Tuesday, the Yakima City Council decided not to appeal a recent federal court decision overturning its at-large election system and approving a district map drawn by one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit; the ACLU. Read more in the Yakima Herald Republic.

Local RedistrictingWashington, Yakima Washington

Supreme Court Declines Review of North Carolina Voting Laws

By EditorApr 08, 2015

North Carolina: The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a request to review of the legality of North Carolina’s new voting identification laws and other restrictions on voting intended to curb voter fraud. Read more in the Hill here.

RedistrictingNC, North Carolina, northcarolina, Supreme Court, voter ID

Appeals Court Overturns Lawyer Fees in Texas Redistricting Case

By EditorApr 08, 2015

AUSTIN, TX — A federal appeals panel has reversed a decision granting roughly $360,000 in legal fees to lawyers who helped former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis fend off Republican-drawn political boundaries as part of a yearslong court fight over Texas’ redistricting maps. Read more in the San Antonio Express. Read the Opinion here.

Casedocs, RedistrictingAustin, Lawyer fees, Texas, texas redistricting, Wendy Davis

Lawsuit Alleges Prison Gerrymandering in Florida County

By EditorApr 08, 2015

The ACLU of Florida has launched a salvo against prison gerrymandering. It filed this lawsuit against a Florida county's inclusion of a state prison in its legislative map. The press release is below. March 9, 2015 MIAMI, FL – Today, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida filed a federal lawsuit challenging an election system in Jefferson County, Florida which counts the inmate population of a state prison in the drawing of district maps. The lawsuit, filed today in the U.S. District Court in Tallahassee, states that by treating the approximately 1,157 inmates at the Jefferson Correctional Institution (JCI)…

Casedocs, Local Redistricting, Redistricting, Redistricting GerrymandersACLU, Florida, Jefferson county, local, Prison gerrymandering, prisoner reallocation

Understanding Prison Gerrymandering and Its Cure: Prisoner Reallocation

By EditorApr 08, 2015

Long overlooked in the context of redistricting, prisoners are counted by the U.S. Census Bureau as residents of the institutions they are incarcerated in. The goal of redistricting electoral boundaries at the state and local levels is to create equally populated districts that ensure every voter's vote has equal weight in an election. A consensus has been building over the years that large prison populations counted by the Census Bureau in this way, confounds these goals. While the Census Bureau has not changed its counting method for prisoners, in response to growing concern by states and advocacy groups, the Bureau…

Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanderscensus, IN-DEPTH, Prison gerrymandering, prisoner reallocation, redistricting

Anatomy of a Section 2 Lawsuit: Ferguson-Florissant School District

By EditorMar 30, 2015

The Missouri State Conference of the NAACP filed a lawsuit against the Ferguson-Florissant School District this past December in a quest to discontinue the at-large elections of its seven member board and instead divide the school district into seven election districts from which each board member will be elected. Changing the method of election in this way is sure to dramatically change the composition of the board in favor of the African-American families in the district. Why? As it turns out, the Ferguson-Florissant School District’s demographics and political environment is indeed a microcosm of the sad state of race relations…

Redistrictingfeatured, Ferguson, lawid, lpvra, Missouri, school district

SCOTUSNow Predicts Winner / Losers in Arizona Redistricting Case by Question Count

By EditorMar 24, 2015

One Chicago-Kent College of Law blog likes to predict winners and losers in major supreme court cases by counting the questions during oral argument. According to the blog author's own statistics, his method is 63% accurate recently - but he says Arizona Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission is nearly a toss up when it comes to the comparative question count. He gives the legislature the upper hand in the end. Read the blog article for his detailed methodology and the actual question counts of the judges.

Redistricting CommissionsArizona, oral argument, scotus