Lawsuit Alleges Prison Gerrymandering in Florida County

Lawsuit Alleges Prison Gerrymandering in Florida County

By EditorApr 08, 2015
The ACLU of Florida has launched a salvo against prison gerrymandering. It filed this lawsuit against a Florida county's inclusion of a state prison in its legislative map. The press release is below. March 9, 2015 MIAMI, FL – Today, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida filed a federal lawsuit challenging an election system in Jefferson County, Florida which counts the inmate population of a state prison in the drawing of district maps. The lawsuit, filed today in the U.S. District Court in Tallahassee, states that by treating the approximately 1,157 inmates at the Jefferson Correctional Institution (JCI)…
Casedocs, Local Redistricting, Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanders, , , , ,
Read More
SCOTUSNow Predicts Winner / Losers in Arizona Redistricting Case by Question Count

SCOTUSNow Predicts Winner / Losers in Arizona Redistricting Case by Question Count

By EditorMar 24, 2015
One Chicago-Kent College of Law blog likes to predict winners and losers in major supreme court cases by counting the questions during oral argument. According to the blog author's own statistics, his method is 63% accurate recently - but he says Arizona Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission is nearly a toss up when it comes to the comparative question count. He gives the legislature the upper hand in the end. Read the blog article for his detailed methodology and the actual question counts of the judges.
Redistricting Commissions, ,
Read More
ACLU Files Voting Rights Lawsuit in Fullerton, CA

ACLU Files Voting Rights Lawsuit in Fullerton, CA

By EditorMar 19, 2015
Fullerton, CA: The ACLU  filed a lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of Asian voters in the city of Fullerton, California. The suit alleges that Fullerton's at-large style elections impede the ability of Asian voters to elect their preferred candidates. Unlike, its lawsuit in Yakima, WA, this complaint is based on the California Voting Rights Act as opposed to the federal law. Read the ACLU's release from Wednesday below: Paik v. City of Fullerton is a lawsuit alleging that the City of Fullerton’s at-large elections violate the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA), which prevents cities from imposing at-large elections that deny minority communities the…
Local Redistricting, Redistricting, ,
Read More
New Developments in Yakima, WA Vote Dilution Case

New Developments in Yakima, WA Vote Dilution Case

By EditorMar 19, 2015
Yakima, WA: The Yakima city council voted this week to give themselves more time to decide if the council will appeal a recent federal court ruling invalidating its at-large method of electing city council members. The Hispanic population in the city is 42% and Hispanic voters had been unable to an elect a candidate of their choosing in the at-large scheme. The court had to make a finding of racially polarized voting in past election to invalidate the at-large system. The recent court ruling required the city to divide voters into districts, both the city and the ACLU -who was a…
Local Redistricting, Redistricting, ,
Read More
Arizona Supreme Court Case Could Threaten Redistricting Commissions in these 6 States

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 Commissions,
Read More

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, , , ,
Read More

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,
Read More
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, , ,
Read More
Santa Fe Looking for a Few Good Geographers

Santa Fe Looking for a Few Good Geographers

By EditorJan 19, 2015
The City of Santa Fe, New Mexico is looking for citizens to fill the seven spots on its Citizens' Redistricting Commission. The body will be in charge of redrawing Santa Fe's city council districts. The city is looking for a geographer or cartographer to sit on the commission to help with the challenge of redrawing political boundaries after a recent annexation. Read local coverage here.
Redistricting Commissions, Strategy and Politics,
Read More