POLICY and PRACTICE

Supreme Court Declines to Hear Pennsylvania Republican’s Congressional Map Appeal

By Michelle DavisNov 01, 2018

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari to Republican lawmakers in the Pennsylvania legislature after a January ruling by the Pa. State Supreme Court invalidating the congressional map enacted by the body in 2011. (more…)

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Listen to the NCSL Webinar on Recent Supreme Court Gerrymandering Decisions

By EditorJul 24, 2018

Last week the National Conference of State Legislatures hosted this webinar on the recent Supreme Court Partisan Gerrymandering decisions. You can watch/listen below. The discussion gives good insight into the current posture of the litigation in Wisconsin and Maryland and other states. (more…)

FEATURES, LAW, POLICY and PRACTICE, Redistricting Gerrymanders, Redistricting Litigation, Redistricting Prepbenesik v Lamone, lawindepth, ncsl, partisan gerrymandering, Supreme Court, webinar, Whitford v Gill

Watch: Inside the Democrat Party’s National Redistricting Strategy

By EditorMar 20, 2017

National: Roll Call interviews National Democratic Redistricting Committee Executive Director Kelly Ward about its strategy going into 2020. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V5XEwif_DQ]

Strategy and Politicsfeatured, national, National Democratic Redistricting Committee, redistricting

Georgia’s Mid-Decade Redistricting Causes a Stir

By EditorMar 20, 2017

Georgia - Traditionally reserved for the beginning of the decade, redistricting is on the table again in Georgia as a proposal for new House districts has cleared that chamber and is being considered in the Georgia senate. As a practical matter, redistricting usually only happens once in a decade. Although, in most states there is no law that would limit it to that, the task is such a delicate, complex and highly controversial one that most do not dare to go through it any more than they have to. Georgia's republican controlled legislature has got the attention of former attorney general Eric Holder,…

NEWS, POLICY and PRACTICE, Redistricting, Strategy and PoliticsGeorgia, National Democratic Redistricting Committee, redistricting, Redistricting Majority Project, REDMAP, state legislature, States

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…

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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

U.S. Supreme Court: Shelby County Cannot Recoup Attorney Fees for Winning Landmark Voting Rights Case

By EditorJan 25, 2016

Today the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Shelby County, Alabama. It means that Shelby is stuck with the $2 million bill for winning its landmark case against the Voting Rights Act. It had filed a petition to recover its attorneys fees, which is allowed under the Act but a lower court denied the claim and the Supreme Court agreed. The lower court ruled on the basis that the litigation did not advance the law's anti-discriminatory purpose. Read the NYT article here.

LAW, NEWS, POLICY and PRACTICE, Redistricting, Redistricting Litigation, Redistricting Race RulesAlabama, attorney fees, States

Redistricting from an Engineering Point of View

By EditorJan 19, 2016

This Daily Kos article shows just how easy redistricting can be by using simple geometry. No algorithm yet can tackle the various state and federal statutory requirements. Oh, and then there's the constitution.

Redistricting, REFORM, Strategy and Politicscomputerized, processid, redistricting

Arizona Supreme Court Case Could Threaten Redistricting Commissions in these 6 States

By EditorMar 10, 2015

Last week the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission. The case centers around whether voters by initiative, can transfer the authority to redraw state and congressional boundaries from the state legislature to an independent commission, something Arizona has been doing since 2000. This Brennan Center report lists those states with commissions that could be in jeopardy should the Supreme Court side with the Arizona legislature in this case. Read the report here.

Elections Clause, FEATURES, POLICY and PRACTICE, Redistricting CommissionsBrennan Center, States

Supreme Court May Resurrect Alabama Legislative Black Caucus’ Equal Population Claims

By EditorMar 02, 2015

The Alabama Legislative Black Caucus' Supreme Court Case was late last year, and focused on whether that state's 2012 legislative redistricting plan was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Interestingly, there was a second question presented in the case at the district court level: "whether the 2012 redistricting plans allocate control of local delegations in a manner which violates Equal Protection, effectively denying county residents equal voting rights." This "second" question is actually an equal population challenge, and is based on the redistricting maps' gratuitous breaching of county jurisdiction lines. In Alabama, it is local state legislative delegations that have most of…

Casedocs, Equal Protection, FEATURES, POLICY and PRACTICE, Redistricting Gerrymanders, Redistricting LitigationAlabama, lpequalpro, States, Supreme Court