Listen to Supreme Court Oral Argument in the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission Case

By EditorMar 09, 2015
Last week the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission. The case revolves around the Republican-led legislatures' challenge to a state constitutional amendment that voters passed by initiative in 2000 giving a bipartisan commission control over redrawing Arizona's state and congressional district boundaries. While there are some initial issues of standing, the substantive question in this case will be whether the U.S. Constitution's Elections Clause prevents a state from transferring redistricting authority to an entity other than the legislature. So far, there have been several early impressions of the oral argument published, many…
Elections Clause, Redistricting Commissions, Redistricting Litigation, , , ,
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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 Litigation, , ,
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Previewing Supreme Court Oral Argument in Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission v. Arizona

By EditorFeb 26, 2015
Michael Morley ( assistant professor of law at the Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law at Barry University) and Nick Stephanopoulos (assistant professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School) join Jeffrey Rosen of the National Constitutional Center to discuss the upcoming Supreme Court oral arguments in Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission v. Arizona scheduled for March 2nd. Listen to the podcast here.   http://www.podbean.com/media/player/tu8c9-54130f/initByJs/1/auto/1
Redistricting, Redistricting Commissions,
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Los Angeles City Council Redistricting Upheld by Federal Court

Los Angeles City Council Redistricting Upheld by Federal Court

By EditorFeb 25, 2015
Los Angeles - City Council President Herb Wesson was vindicated by a federal court's ruling that the council's controversial 2012 redistricting map was not an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.  Despite so-called damning video evidence submitted by plaintiffs that showed Wesson telling an audience that the map "guaranteed" at least two minority council members going forward, the court found the districts in question to be racially diverse and drawn in accordance with traditional redistricting principles. In the end, the court did not believe the entire council had racially discriminatory goals when drawing the map. Read the Article here.
Local Redistricting, Redistricting, Redistricting Criteria, Redistricting Litigation, , ,
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Alabama Law Review Symposium: 50th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act

By EditorFeb 24, 2015
 Tuscaloosa, Alabama - February 27 8:00am -5:00pm The University of Alabama School of Law is pleased to announce the presenters for the Alabama Law Review’s Voting Rights Act Symposium. Join us as the nation’s foremost experts on the Voting Rights Act commemorate the 50th Anniversary of this historic enactment. The symposium is 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 27 in the Bedsole Moot Court Room (140). Keynote Speaker The Honorable Myron H. Thompson, Senior U.S. District Judge Presenters Jack Bass, author of Taming the Storm Guy-Uriel Charles, Duke University School of Law Kareem Crayton, University of North Carolina School of Law…
Redistricting Race Rules
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VRA at 50: March 4th at Ohio State Univ. Moritz College of Law

By EditorFeb 24, 2015
Ohio - On March 4, two experts will address the history, legacy, and  future of the Voting Rights Act in events presented by The Ohio State  University’s Moritz College of Law, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio, and the Kirwan Institute. Pam Karlan, deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice Thomas E. Perez, Secrtary of Labor, former Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the U. S. Department of Justice Click here for more info and registration
Redistricting Race Rules, ,
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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…
Casedocs, Redistricting Race Rules, , ,
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