Quarterly Redistricting Update: January 2015

Quarterly Redistricting Update: January 2015

By EditorFeb 16, 2015
Arizona    October 2014- The Supreme Court agreed to hear the Arizona State Legislature’s case against the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission - formed in 2000 when voters approved Proposition 106. This proposition amended the state constitution to assign the redistricting function to a 5 member body. The seminal question in this case is whether the U.S. Constitution’s Elections Clause allows the redistricting task to be delegated away from the legislature. As simple a question as that may seem, there are several other preliminary issues of law that could keep the high court from ever answering the question. There are issues of standing, justiciability…
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Quarterly Redistricting Update: October 2014

Quarterly Redistricting Update: October 2014

By EditorFeb 16, 2015
Florida Fair Districts Case In early July, a circuit court judge in Tallahassee ruled Florida’s congressional map did indeed violate the state’s Fair Districts amendments outlawing partisan influenced linedrawing. The 5th and 10th congressional districts were singled out by the court as requiring modification. The judge added that Florida’s Republican legislature made a “mockery” of the Fair Districts Amendments and used political consultants on the sly to draw the map. In early August, the legislature approved a new map, which made changes to 7 districts in total - but Common Cause, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, says the map does…
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Virginia: SB 1000 Temporary Redistricting Advisory Commission

By EditorFeb 13, 2015
Virginia: SB 1000 Provides a new method for the preparation of state legislative and congressional redistricting plans; spells out standards for developing plans, including population equality, compactness, maintenance of cores of existing districts, and respect for locality boundaries; precludes consideration of incumbency and political data in developing plans; assigns responsibility to the Division of Legislative Services to prepare plans for submission to the General Assembly; and establishes a temporary redistricting advisory commission to advise the Division, disseminate information on plans, and hold hearings for public reaction to plans. The General Assembly may reject the Division's plans and may ultimately amend…
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Guinier and Blacksher Compare Shelby Decision to Dred Scott

By EditorFeb 06, 2015
James Blacksher, a practicing voting rights attorney in Alabama and Harvard Law professor and former DOJ Special Asst. to the AAG. for the Civil Rights Division, Lani Guinier write this article titled "Free at Last: Rejecting Equal Sovereignty and Restoring the Constitutional Right To Vote. Shelby County v. Holder." In it they question the Supreme Court's use of the Equal Sovereignty principle as a central tenant in its ruling that invalidated the mechanism for which section 5 of the Voting Rights Act is implemented. "Shelby County is the first decision since Dred Scott to invoke the doctrine of equal sovereignty where…
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Case Filing: Missouri NAACP v. Ferguson-Florissant School District et. al.

Case Filing: Missouri NAACP v. Ferguson-Florissant School District et. al.

By EditorFeb 06, 2015
Missouri - Plaintiffs content in this lawsuit filed in December that African-American voters in Ferguson-Florissant are denied the ability to elect candidates of their choice to the local school board because of the existing at-large voting system. "Despite the fact that African Americans are almost half of the School District’s population and are a substantial majority of its students, there has never been adequate representation of African Americans on the Board. At present, the Board has only one African-American member."   They claim that under section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, that the at-large method of voting dilutes minority voting power…
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