Redistricting

Utah’s Court-Ordered Redistricting: Where Things Stand

By EditorMay 22, 20260 Comments

The Utah congressional map controversy continues into 2026. On November 10, 2025, a state trial court invalidated the Utah legislature's congressional map on the grounds that it violated the anti-partisan gerrymandering rules enacted under Proposition 4, which voters approved seven years ago. The court adopted a remedial map submitted by the plaintiffs in the case (The Utah League of Women Voters and the Mormon Women for Ethical Government) to be used in the 2026 mid-term election. That map created three Republican-leaning districts and one Democratic-leaning district centered on Salt Lake County. In response, the Utah Legislature launched an aggressive multi-front…

State Laws, Utahmid-decade redistricting, policyindepth, Utah

SCOTUS Reverses Mississippi Legislative Map Ruling

By EditorMay 18, 20260 Comments

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a brief order Monday, reversed a lower court's ruling that determined Mississippi lawmakers unlawfully diluted Black voting strength when it redrew the state's legislative districts. The Supreme Court's decision to toss out the ruling in the Mississippi case, along with a similar ruling in North Dakota, is the latest order set off by the justices' 6-3 decision in Callais last month. Earlier this month, the high court similarly tossed a Voting Rights Act (VRA) ruling against Alabama's congressional map that had mandated the state have two majority-Black districts. The Callais ruling, along with subsequent orders…

Mississippi, Voting Rights Actcaseupdates, Latest, Mississippi

What Local Officials Need to Know about the Recent U.S. Supreme Court Voting Rights Act Decision

By EditorMay 15, 20260 Comments

Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is the federal law that has most directly shaped how local governments draw their district maps and structure their elections. It is a permanent, nationwide prohibition on any voting standard, practice, or procedure that results in the denial or abridgment of the right of any citizen to vote on account of race, color, or membership in a language minority group. The Act applies to every level of government, including county commissions, city councils, school boards, and judicial districts. In practice, the law has been most often invoked at the local level.…

Redistricting, Voting Rights Actlocalpage

Missouri State Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument in 3 Challenges to 2025 Congressional Map

By EditorMay 12, 20260 Comments

The Missouri Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday morning in three consolidated challenges to the state's new congressional map, known as the Missouri First Map, which Gov. Mike Kehoe signed into law following a special legislative session in September 2025. The map, drawn as part of President Trump's broader mid-decade redistricting push to secure additional Republican congressional seats ahead of the 2026 midterms, splits parts of Kansas City into three districts and adds Republican-leaning areas to the district of Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, one of the state's two Democratic House members. The Republican-led legislature passed the map last fall, targeting one…

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U.S. Supreme Court Clears Alabama to “Revert” to Previously Struck Down 2023 Congressional Map

By EditorMay 11, 20260 Comments

In a 6-3 decision on Monday, the Supreme Court lifted lower-court injunctions that had blocked Alabama's 2023 congressional maps and imposed court-drawn maps set to remain in place until after the 2030 Census. The unsigned majority order offered no explanation, instead vacating the lower court ruling and remanding the case back to the three-judge district court for reconsideration in light of Louisiana v. Callais. The decision opens a path for Republicans to pick up an additional U.S. House seat, as the 2023 map cuts two majority-Black congressional districts down to one, concentrating Black voters into the 7th Congressional District while…

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Supreme Court Rewrites the Rules for Minority Voting Rights in Louisiana v. Callais

By EditorMay 08, 20260 Comments

On April 29, the Supreme Court issued a landmark 6-3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais that dramatically narrows how courts evaluate claims of racial vote dilution under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). The decision, written by Justice Alito, involves Louisiana's congressional map known as "SB8," which was drawn to include a second majority-Black district after a lower court found the state's earlier map likely violated the VRA. When Louisiana complied by drawing SB8, a separate group of plaintiffs challenged it as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The Supreme Court agreed, and in doing so, it reshaped the legal…

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What Just Happened? Callais Decision Triggers Mutliple Map Redraws

By EditorMay 07, 20260 Comments

The Supreme Court has struck down Louisiana’s 2024 congressional map in Louisiana v. Callais, ruling 6-3 that the state’s creation of a second majority-Black district was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The map had been drawn after lower courts found Louisiana’s 2022 plan likely violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act because it contained only one majority-Black district in a state where Black residents make up roughly one-third of the population. But the new 2024 map prompted a separate challenge from voters who argued that Louisiana had sorted voters by race in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. The Court…

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New York’s 11th District Struck Down Over Racial Voting Power Concerns

By EditorFeb 03, 2026

State Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Pearlman has invalidated the boundaries of New York’s 11th Congressional District, the city's only Republican-held seat currently represented by Nicole Malliotakis. The ruling determined that the district's current lines unconstitutionally diluted the voting power of Black and Hispanic residents in Staten Island and southern Brooklyn. Citing evidence of a "racially polarized voting bloc" and historical discrimination, the judge ordered the bipartisan Independent Redistricting Commission to submit a new map by February 6. While the commission holds primary authority, past failures to reach consensus have allowed the Democrat-controlled state legislature to intervene and adjust the lines…

New York, State Lawscaseupdates, mid-decade redistricting, Minority Vote Dilution, new york

Court Declines Preliminary Injunction Motion against California’s Prop 50 Congressional Map

By EditorJan 15, 2026

A 3-judge federal court panel has declined to issue a preliminary injunction preventing the use of California's new congressional map in the 2026 elections, which was approved by 64% of voters via Proposition 50 in a November special election. The legal challenge, brought by the California Republican Party and the U.S. Department of Justice, alleged that the map constituted racial gerrymandering by disproportionately favoring Latino voting power. After a three-day preliminary injunction hearing, however, the court rejected these claims in a 2-1 ruling, with the majority opinion concluding that the map was a "political gerrymander" rather than a racially motivated…

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Indiana Senate Rejects Mid-Cycle Congressional Map Proposal

By EditorDec 11, 2025

The Indiana Republican-led Senate voted down a mid-decade congressional map on Thursday, December 11, 2025, which would have favored the Republican party in the 2026 elections. The map was designed to increase the number of Republican-controlled congressional seats from seven to nine by effectively eliminating Indiana’s two Democratic-held districts by splitting Indianapolis into four districts. The redistricting plan was defeated by a bipartisan majority, with 21 Republican senators joining all 10 Democrats in the chamber to vote against the measure. The vote occurred despite months of intense national pressure, including urging from President Donald Trump to engage in mid-cycle redistricting.…

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