Listen: Supreme Court Oral Argument in Trump Apportionment / Citizenship Case

On Monday the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Trump v. New York. This case challenged an executive memo directing the Census Bureau to report official congressional apportionment data so that it excludes the count of non-citizens. For an in-depth analysis of the arguments, read SCOTUSBlog.com's report. Most expert observers say the court seemed preoccupied with the "ripeness" of the issue, or in layman's parlance - whether or not the administration has done anything yet that could possibly violate a statute or the constitution. Listen to the audio below. https://youtu.be/ePChyVCpI6A
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CA Federal Court Panel Invalidates Presidential Order to Exclude “Illegal Aliens” from Apportionment Count

On Thursday (Oct. 22) a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (San Jose Division) issued a final order and opinion invalidating the president's July memorandum that ordered census apportionment numbers exclude undocumented immigrants. A copy of the opinion is here. A federal district court in New York was the first to invalidate the July memorandum in September. That case has been scheduled for oral argument before the Supreme Court on November 30th. The San Jose court declared the presidential memorandum a "violation of the Apportionment and Enumeration Clauses of Article I, Section 2…
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Analysis: Do Redistricting Maps with Deviations Under 10% Violate the Equal Population Rule? Sometimes.

Analysis: Do Redistricting Maps with Deviations Under 10% Violate the Equal Population Rule? Sometimes.

Most legal challenges to redistricting maps based on population deviation center around deviations that are too large. However, there are a handful of cases in which a court has found a map with minimal deviations (under 10%) to be unconstitutional. What is minimal? The equal population or “one-person, one-vote standard requires general population equality between districts, but there is no precise number or percentage that defines constitutionality. Instead, the Supreme Court interprets this constitutional requirement for congressional districts to mean “strict equality,” and for legislative and other local maps, districts need only to be “substantially equal.” In practice, a clear…
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Supreme Court Schedules November Oral Argument in Undocumented Immigrant Apportionment Case

On Friday, the Supreme Court announced it would expedite an appeal by the Trump administration after a lower district court halted the administration’s plan to exclude people who are in the country illegally from the official apportionment count numbers used in allocating seats in the House of Representatives. Read a synopsis below. Oral arguments are scheduled for November 30, just one month before the statutory deadline for delivering the apportionment numbers to the president.It is not clear if the Census Bureau will be able to meet the December 31 deadline for delivering apportionment numbers, nor is it clear how it…
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Federal Judge Reprimands Census Bureau for Violating  its Restraining Order

Federal Judge Reprimands Census Bureau for Violating its Restraining Order

On Sept. 24th the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California issued a preliminary injunction that enjoins the U.S. Census Bureau from ending its counting operations on September 30, extending the time to Oct 31. On the afternoon of Sept. 28th, despite that court order, the Census Bureau tweeted (see below) that it would be ending field operations on Oct. 5th. Chaos ensued. In a new order issued by the district court on Oct 1, the court clarifies its original order and reprimands administration officials for " further undermining trust in the Bureau and its partners, sowing more…
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Federal Judge Orders Census Count to Continue Through Oct 31

A U.S. District Judge in the Northern District of California has issued a preliminary injunction that enjoins the U.S. Census Bureau from ending its counting operations on September 30. The order explains that the coalition of plaintiffs - headed by the National Urban League - are likely to succeed in the lawsuit and that shortening the timeframes for data collection and processing by half, necessitate the preliminary injunction. The administration is expected to appeal. Read the order here. While the Census Bureau had originally requested Congress to extend the statutory deadlines for apportionment data delivery to the President and redistricting…
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Oregon Redistricting Commission Ballot Measure Efforts TimeOut

Oregon Redistricting Commission Ballot Measure Efforts TimeOut

At least one news outlet has described the failed Oregon redistricting reform ballot initiative as a "dramatic legal saga." By all accounts, they would be correct. You can read a detailed account from Oregon Public Broadcasting here and here. Read below for a quick summary. a group wishing to put a question on the November ballot to approve a nonpartisan redistricting commission for Oregon districts failed to obtain the 155,000 signatures needed.the group successfully argued in a federal district court that the pandemic unfairly restricted signature-gathering efforts. The court ultimately allowed a lower signature requirement of 59,000.the state Attorney General…
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Watch: Pennsylvania Redistricting Reform Town Hall Discusses Anti-Gerrymandering Legislation

Watch: Pennsylvania Redistricting Reform Town Hall Discusses Anti-Gerrymandering Legislation

Interested in Pennsylvania redistricting reform? Watch this recent town hall organized by reform group Fair Districts PA to discuss the Legislative and Congressional Redistricting Act (LACRA), which has been introduced in both houses of the state legislature. Participants include members of the Princeton Gerrymandering Project team who give insight into mapping criteria and metrics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzsoZ9AnAXk
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Second Court Rewords Missouri Redistricting Ballot Amendment Language

Second Court Rewords Missouri Redistricting Ballot Amendment Language

A county circuit court judge ruled earlier last month that the wording of a ballot measure authored by the Republican legislature was “misleading” in an effort to “entice” voters into repealing an anti-gerrymandering reform measure approved by voters in 2018. This week a Missouri Appeals Court affirmed the lower court ruling that the original ballot language was misleading but it reworded the circuit court’s rewrite as well. You can read all three versions below. The circuit court replaced the ballot summary language for Amendment 3 to make clear that if the measure is approved, it would reverse the 2018 measure.The…
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Second State Invalidates Redistricting Map Based on Common State Constitutional Provision

Second State Invalidates Redistricting Map Based on Common State Constitutional Provision

September 5, 2019 “the Free Elections Clause of the North Carolina Constitution guarantees that all elections must be conducted freely and honestly to ascertain, fairly and truthfully, the will of the People and that this is a fundamental right of North Carolina citizens, a compelling governmental interest, and a cornerstone of our democratic form of government.” These are the words of the three-judge panel in North Carolina's state trial court. Following Pennsylvania's lead in League of Women Voters of Pa. v. Pennsylvania, which invalidated that state's congressional map - The North Carolina court gave legislative leaders until September 17th to…
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