Texas Attorney General’s Statement on Redistricting Court Ruling

By EditorMar 17, 2017
Texas - Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton released this statement on Monday regarding a federal district court panel's 2-1 ruling that finds several congressional districts drawn by the Texas legislature to be unconstitutional.  Click here for more analysis of the case: “We respectfully disagree with the redistricting panel’s majority decision.  As Fifth Circuit Judge Jerry Smith observed in his dissent, the challenge to the old 2011 maps - which were never in effect - is moot.  The maps currently in use are not the ones adopted by the Texas Legislature in 2011, which are the subject of the court’s opinion. …
Redistricting,
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What’s Next in Texas Redistricting

What’s Next in Texas Redistricting

By EditorMar 17, 2017
On March 10th a federal district court panel in San Antonio Texas ruled that the State legislature’s 2011 congressional redistricting map was drawn in manner that violated the U.S. constitution.  The court found several districts in the map were the product of intentional racial discrimination and minority vote dilution.  While the ruling was a surprise, considering the case had been drawn out for nearly six years, it was also slightly anti-climactic since the ruling referred to a map that Texas no longer uses as its congressional districts.  The court had drawn an interim map in 2012 after finding that some…
Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanders, Redistricting Race Rules, , , , , , ,
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Texas Congressional Districts Invalidated by Federal Court: News Coverage

Texas Congressional Districts Invalidated by Federal Court: News Coverage

By EditorMar 16, 2017
Texas - Six years in the making, the federal district court panel released its opinion late last week in the long arduous litigation we call Texas Redistricting.  This 2-1 decision is only the beginning since it is in regard to the state legislature's 2011 map, which has since been replaced.  The court has yet to consider the 2013 map, which is in place currently, and the state legislative map for the lower house. What is the importance of this decision on a now defunct map? The court could require Texas to return to the preclearance regime, which was overturned in…
Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanders, Redistricting Litigation, , , ,
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Maryland Judge Orders Legislative Leaders to Testify in Partisan Gerrymandering Case

Maryland Judge Orders Legislative Leaders to Testify in Partisan Gerrymandering Case

By EditorFeb 02, 2017
Maryland - Nearly four years after Bethesda, Md. resident Stephen M. Shapiro and other Maryland voters filed a partisan gerrymandering lawsuit against Maryland's congressional district map, a judge has ordered the Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates and the President of the Maryland Senate to testify in the case and turn over documents, rejecting claims of legislative privilege. Shapiro's case has wound its way through the courts from its initial filing in 2013, you can read the original complaint here.   A district court judge dismissed the case but Shapiro won his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled…
NEWS, POLICY and PRACTICE, Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanders, Redistricting Litigation, , , , , , , ,
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The Efficiency Gap Visualized Through the Decades

The Efficiency Gap Visualized Through the Decades

By EditorJan 18, 2017
The hottest thing in redistricting - if there is such a thing - is undoubtedly the emergence of "Efficiency Gap" analysis, and whether this measurement of how gerrymandered a map is, will receive the imprimatur of the U.S. Supreme Court.  While we wait, The Campaign Legal Center has released this report looking back through the decades to measure the efficiency gap in state legislative and congressional maps.  Their point is that partisan gerrymandering has never been more rampant and excessive than right now, but the charts show other interesting patterns as well.  Read the Report here.
Equal Protection, Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanders, Redistricting Race Rules, , ,
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Texas Three-Judge Court Cites “Voluminous” Record as Reason Why it Will Take Its Sweet Time on Texas Redistricting

Texas Three-Judge Court Cites “Voluminous” Record as Reason Why it Will Take Its Sweet Time on Texas Redistricting

By EditorJan 08, 2017
San Antonio, Texas - Its the biggest, most watched redistricting litigation of the decade; but the Texas redistricting case(s) began in 2011 and no ruling has been forthcoming by the federal district court panel tasked to resolve it.  Plaintiff's recently filed a request for the court to make a final decision and the court responded this week with an epic list of just how in the weeds they are with the paperwork.  The judges wrote: "The Court continues to diligently work through this voluminous record and the complex legal questions presented in this case and will issue an opinion as…
Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanders, Redistricting Race Rules,
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Texas Federal Court Imposes Preclearance on City of Pasadena

Texas Federal Court Imposes Preclearance on City of Pasadena

By EditorJan 08, 2017
Pasadena, Texas - The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas in this ruling invalidated the city's move from an eight-member district redistricting map to a mixed map of six single member districts and two at-large seats for electing its city council.  The court's finding of minority vote dilution (of Hispanic voters) under section 2 of the Voting Rights Act includes an order to subject the city to preclearance requirements, which would mean election officials must clear any future redistricting changes to the Justice Department for approval.  Read the initial case filing by plaintiffs here. There were several…
Local Redistricting, NEWS, Race in Redistricting, Redistricting, Redistricting Race Rules, Voting Rights Act, , , , ,
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Meet The Democrat’s Secret Redistricting Weapon in 2020

Meet The Democrat’s Secret Redistricting Weapon in 2020

By EditorJan 05, 2017
Watch MSNBC interview Kelly Ward, former executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee about her new role as the Democrat party's answer to the wildly successful national Republican redistricting strategy.   Ward is interim executive director of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, - a project of President Obama and former Attorney General, Eric Holder - which will be gearing up for the next redistricting battle in 2020. Her interview begins around the 4:00 min mark.  
Redistricting, Strategy and Politics
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