Redistricting Functions

U.S. District Court Dismisses 2nd Lawsuit Calling for New House Elections

By EditorAug 23, 2022

A U.S. District Court in Richmond, Va has rejected a lawsuit aimed at dissolving Virginia's 2021 House of Delegates election. Plaintiffs in the case had urged the court to order a new election due to the delay in census data caused by the Covid-19 health crisis. The 2021 election was conducted using legislative district maps drawn after the 2010 census because updated census data from 2020 was not available to redraw maps in enough time for the scheduled statewide election. The plaintiffs sued the state election board on the basis that conducting the election using the old maps - based…

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Court: New York Will Have Congressional and Senate Maps by May 20.

By EditorApr 29, 2022

The litigation surrounding New York's congressional and senate maps will end by May 20, according to the Stueben County appellate court. The court's announcement comes after the state's highest court invalidated both maps on Wednesday (April 27th). Here is a recap of the litigation which began in February. The litigation surrounding these two maps began in mid-February and sped through all three levels of the state court system (trial court, appellate court, and the state's highest court) in just over 2 months. While there was some disagreement among courts regarding whether the maps enacted by the legislature were the product…

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New York Redistricting Maps Thrown Out by State Trial Court. Congressional Map Declared Partisan Gerrymander

By EditorApr 01, 2022

On Thursday, Mar. 31, a New York trial court invalidated the legislature's 2022 congressional and state legislative maps. The decision was primarily grounded in the procedural requirements of New York's state constitution, which the court said the legislature violated when it adopted maps of its own after the Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) failed to produce a second set of maps. Read the opinion. According to the court, the constitutional provision creating the IRC allowed the legislature to draw maps only after the IRC submits 2 sets of maps and the legislature rejects them. The IRC deadlocked in Jan of 2022…

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Maryland State Court Throws Out 2021 Congressional Map Citing Extreme Gerrymandering

By EditorMar 27, 2022

On Friday, the Senior Judge of the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County signed an order prohibiting use of the congressional map that the Maryland legislature approved - over a gubernatorial veto - during a special session in December 2021. State officials were given five days to redraw the map. The legislature is currently in session until April 11. There is no word on whether the state will appeal. Read the order and opinion. The ruling concerned consolidated cases against the map by several plaintiffs and is notable as it makes Maryland among the first few states to fall victim…

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U.S. Supreme Court Denies Request to Block North Carolina Court’s Congressional Map

By EditorMar 08, 2022

On Monday the U.S. Supreme Court denied an emergency application for a stay of the North Carolina State supreme court's decision to invalidate the congressional map that the legislature enacted in 2021 and the state trial court's decision to block a second map enacted by the legislature on February 17. If the high court had granted an emergency stay, the upcoming 2022 elections would have been conducted under the legislature's Feb. 17 map, while the court considered the case for a decision at some later date. Read the court's order. Map and Court Decision Timeline Feb. 23 2022: A state…

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Kansas Congressional Map Gets 2 Challenges in State Court

By EditorFeb 16, 2022

On Tuesday Feb. 14, two challenges to the controversial "Ad Astra 2" Kansas congressional map were filed in state court. The lawsuits were brought about by individual Democratic voters, civic organizations, and the ACLU of Kansas. Republicans in the Kansas House and Senate successfully overrode Democratic governor Laura Kelly's veto of the map on Feb. 9. Read the cases here. Rivera v. Schwab and Alonzo v. Schwab. The cases challenge the map on state constitutional partisan gerrymandering, minority vote dilution, and racial discrimination grounds. Both lawsuits focus on congressional lines in and around Wyandotte County, described in the complaint as…

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Minnesota Judicial Panel Releases State’s New Congressional and Legislative Maps for the Decade

By EditorFeb 15, 2022

On Tuesday Feb. 15, a 5-member Minnesota Judicial Branch Special Redistricting Panel formed in 2021, adopted a congressional and state legislative district map. The court released its final orders for both the congressional and legislative map and explained the panel's approach to redrawing the maps. That approach was to make as few changes as possible to satisfy legal requirements since courts must perform redistricting in a restrained manner as opposed to legislatures who have more "political authority." The court further explained "We are not positioned to draw entirely new congressional districts, as the legislature could choose to do. Rather, we…

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Idaho Supreme Court Upholds New Congressional Map Against State Law Based Challenge

By EditorFeb 13, 2022

On Friday (Feb. 11) the Idaho Supreme Court rejected the only legal challenge filed against the state's new congressional map. Earlier, in January, the court rejected four challenges to the newly enacted state legislative map. This now clears the way for Idaho's May 17 primary election to proceed as scheduled. Read the unanimous opinion here. Read Media Coverage in the Idaho Capital Sun, and the Idaho Press. View the interactive congressional and state legislative maps here: Congressional / State Legislative Find us on:

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OH Supreme Court Rejects Ohio Commission Maps for a 2nd Time. Describes Their Efforts as “Misguided.”

By EditorFeb 07, 2022

The Ohio Supreme Court on Monday rejected a 2nd revised map of state Senate and House districts drawn by the Ohio Redistricting Commission. The first map was invalidated by the court on Jan 12. The latest maps, adopted by the commission on Jan. 22nd, still violate state constitutional provisions prohibiting maps that favor any one political party according to the court. The commission must adopt a 3rd plan and file it with the court by February 18, 2022. Read the order here. The court interprets the state constitution's proportionality standard to mean that any map should reflect the average voting…

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U.S. Supreme Court Sides with Alabama in Voting Rights Act Case Against its Congressional Map, Issues a Stay Order.

By EditorFeb 07, 2022

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday announced that it will allow Alabama to hold elections under its newly enacted congressional map despite a federal trial court's order to redraw the map to add a second majority Black district. Read the order here. In a 5-4 vote, the court granted Alabama's application for a stay from the trial court's decision invalidating the map under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). The 4 Justices in the minority would have allowed the 2022 election to go forward in Alabama with a remedial map as the three-judge trial court had ordered. Justice…

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