New GOP Lawsuit Targets Differential Privacy and Group Quarters Imputation, Claiming Flawed 2020 Census Data

New GOP Lawsuit Targets Differential Privacy and Group Quarters Imputation, Claiming Flawed 2020 Census Data

By EditorOct 11, 20250 Comments
A federal lawsuit challenging the underlying data of the 2020 U.S. Census has been filed in a Florida federal court by two young Republican organizations. The plaintiffs in this case, with potential national implications, are the University of South Florida College Republicans and its President, Michael Fusella, individually, along with the Pinellas County Young Republicans and its President, Parisa Mousavi, individually. The addresses associated with these plaintiffs fall within Florida's 14th Congressional District (represented by a Democrat) and the 15th Congressional District (represented by a Republican). The suit names the federal officials responsible for the data collection as defendants: Howard…
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New Wisconsin Lawsuit Against Congressional Map Features “Anti-Competitive” Claims

New Wisconsin Lawsuit Against Congressional Map Features “Anti-Competitive” Claims

By EditorJul 14, 2025
A bipartisan coalition of business leaders operating as the "Wisconsin Business Leaders for Democracy" filed a lawsuit in the Dane County Circuit Court last Thursday that brands the state’s eight-seat congressional map a “textbook example of an anti-competitive gerrymander.” Represented by Law Forward, Stafford Rosenbaum, and Harvard’s Election Law Clinic, the plaintiffs argue the current lines, drawn in 2022 under a conservative “least-changes” directive and adopted by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, suppress electoral competition in violation of several Wisconsin constitutional guarantees. The case arrives only weeks after the Wisconsin Supreme Court (now under a liberal majority) refused to hear two…
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Federal Court Rules Mississippi Legislative Maps Must be Redrawn.

Federal Court Rules Mississippi Legislative Maps Must be Redrawn.

By EditorJul 11, 2024
Mississippi's 2022 state legislative districts must be redrawn after a three-judge federal panel declared three districts violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The case is Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP v. State Board of Election Commissioners. Read the opinion and order here. While plaintiffs in this case were suing for an additional four senate districts and three house districts, the court concluded that only two senate and one house district met the requirements for a remedy under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act: "We find that three of the illustrative senate and house districts reflect minority…
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8th Circuit Becomes the First to Deny Private Litigants Standing to Sue Under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act

8th Circuit Becomes the First to Deny Private Litigants Standing to Sue Under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act

By EditorJul 09, 2024
This Arkansas State Conference of the NAACP has decided against appealing an 8th Circuit ruling that individuals have no standing to sue under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The ruling comes after decades of court cases that have allowed private litigants to sue under the Act. First a little background: Who Can Sue Under the Voting Rights Act Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) (found at 52 U.S.C. § 10301) prohibits discrimination in voting based on race, color, or membership in an enumerated language minority group. Since its enactment, courts have assumed that private citizens and…
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Pennsylvania: Justice Department Files Statement of Interest Supporting Individuals’ Right to Sue Under Voting Rights Act of 1965

Pennsylvania: Justice Department Files Statement of Interest Supporting Individuals’ Right to Sue Under Voting Rights Act of 1965

By EditorMay 03, 2024
Press Release: May 2, 2024 SCRANTON – The Justice Department announced that it has filed a statement of interest in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania supporting the right of private plaintiffs to bring a lawsuit to enforce Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. This filing is one of many recent briefs by the Justice Department supporting the longstanding principle that private plaintiffs are authorized to bring lawsuits to vindicate important rights protected by the Voting Rights Act. “The right to vote is the foundation of our democracy, and it is the right on which…
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Civil Rights Organizations File Amicus Brief in South Carolina Racial Gerrymandering Case

Civil Rights Organizations File Amicus Brief in South Carolina Racial Gerrymandering Case

By EditorAug 22, 2023
Aug. 18 2023 League of Women Voters Press Release: WASHINGTON, DC — Today, the League of Women Voters of the United States joined an amicus brief filed by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, a racial gerrymandering case to be heard before the Supreme Court of the United States this fall. The brief is also joined by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the Leadership Conference Education Fund, Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Campaign Legal Center, Demos, and…
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Ohio Redistricting Commission Maps Challenged in State Supreme Court as “Brazen” Partisan Gerrymander

By EditorSep 24, 2021
On Thursday, a lawsuit was filed by the ACLU on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Ohio and the Ohio chapter of the African American trade union group the A. Philip Randolph Institute, as well as a group of individual Ohio voters, challenging the state house and senate maps adopted by the Ohio Redistricting Commission last week. The commission adopted the maps on a 5-2 party-line vote with Republican members voting in favor of the map. The lawsuit alleges the map is a clear partisan gerrymander that violates provisions of the state constitution requiring that districts not be…
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VA Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Prisoner Reallocation Law

By EditorSep 23, 2021
The Virginia Supreme Court has rejected a legal challenge to a state law that changes how prison inmates are counted for purposes of redistricting. The petition for a writ of mandamus from the court had alleged that the Virginia legislature acted outside of the "prescribed constitutional amendment process" when it enacted statutory criteria regarding the reallocation of prisoners. It argued that while the commission along with other redistricting criteria was created through referendum and constitutional amendments, the prisoner reallocation statute was not and thus violates the state constitution. The petition had asked the state supreme court to prohibit the commission…
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Supreme Court Upholds Arizona Voting Laws Against Sec. 2 Voting Rights Challenge in Brnovich

By EditorJul 01, 2021
The U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion today overturning a lower court's decision striking down two Arizona voting laws under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The two laws the court upheld restricted out-of precinct voting and certain ballot collection activities in Arizona. Many experts view this as a severe weakening of the Voting Rights Act's protections for minority voters. The Court did seem to distinguish its interpretation of Section 2 in this case, from how it is applied in minority vote dilution redistricting map cases. Read the opinion here. The two voting laws at issue require…
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Wisconsin Supreme Court Rejects Bid to Fast-Track Future Redistricting Litigation

By EditorMay 17, 2021
The Wisconsin state supreme court declined on Friday, to include all redistricting cases in its original jurisdiction. The decision was in response to a petition by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty to fast-track redistricting litigation in the state by having that court conduct a full trial and devise remedies at the outset as opposed to just conducting an appellate review of lower court decisions. Read the court decision here. The court declined any blanket rule for redistricting challenges and instead indicated that it would decide on whether original jurisdiction applies on a case-by-case basis. "as drafted, the procedures…
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