Illinois Federal Court Rejects Voting Rights Act and Racial Gerrymandering Challenges to Legislature’s State Senate and House Maps

By EditorDec 31, 2021
On Thursday, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued a per curiam opinion rejecting the claims of three groups of plaintiffs in the consolidated cases (McConchie, Contreras, and East St. Louis NAACP) against the state legislative district maps, which the legislature approved in September. The claims included allegations of racial gerrymandering and minority vote dilution in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. In regards to the votings rights claims, the court characterized the plaintiff's view of the maps as a failure to "maximize" minority electoral success, and warned that the Supreme Court has…
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GROUPS LAUNCH LEGAL CHALLENGES OVER ALABAMA RACIAL GERRYMANDERING

By EditorNov 16, 2021
A group of voters backed by several civil rights organizations have filed a pair of lawsuits against Alabama's congressional and state legislative districts enacted just 12 days ago. The first lawsuit alleges the congressional map violates section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The second suit claims both the congressional and statehouse maps are racial gerrymanders. Read the complaints here: Milligan v. Merrill (congressional) and Thomas v. Merrill (congressional and state legislative). PRESS RELEASE (Nov. 15, 2021): BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Individual voters joined with civil rights and faith groups today to file a pair of lawsuits in federal court challenging…
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Wisconsin Lawsuit is Third Court Challenge Anticipating a Political “Impasse” for Redistricting Maps

By EditorAug 14, 2021
Wisconsin voters join voters in Pennsylvania and Minnesota by initiating litigation in anticipation of a political impasse between the legislative and executive branches in the map-redrawing process. A group of voters filed suit on Friday - less than one day after 2020 census numbers were released to kick off the nationwide redistricting process. Claiming that there is "no reasonable prospect that Wisconsin's political branches will reach consensus to enact district plans in a timely manner," the plaintiffs are asking a federal district court to intervene to establish redrawn congressional and state legislative districts. The complaint points out that "In the…
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MALDEF Challenges Democratic Drawn Illinois State Legislative Map Citing Legislature’s Use of Census Survey Data

By EditorJun 13, 2021
The Mexican American Legal Defense Fund has sued in federal court after the Illinois legislature passed and the governor enacted a state legislative district map drawn using 5 yr census survey data (ACS) in place of the actual population count from the 2020 census. Read the complaint here. The complaint contends that the General Assembly has yet to release the alleged populations of the individual representative and legislative districts in the enacted map. The map was drawn by the legislature using ACS data due to the late release of the traditional population data used for redistricting, which is not anticipated…
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Illinois Minority Leaders Challenge State Legislative Map Drawn with Census Survey Data

By EditorJun 13, 2021
On June 4, Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a state legislative district map drawn and approved by the Democratic majority in the legislature. The Senate and House minority leaders have in turn sued to have the map overturned in federal court on account of the data that was used for balancing population between districts was census 'survey' estimate data (from the American Community Survey (ACS)), and not the hard count data historically used for redistricting. Read the complaint here. The controversy stems from the months-long delay in delivery of redistricting population data by the Census Bureau due to the Covid-19…
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After Apportionment Results Announced 3 Lawsuits are Filed in 3 States in Anticipation of Redistricting Gridlock

By EditorApr 27, 2021
On Tuesday, three lawsuits were filed in state courts in Louisiana, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania alleging "malapportioned" congressional maps (and statehouse maps in the case of Minnesota). Malapportionment challenges seek to invalidate a map for use in future elections until its population is rebalanced among districts through redistricting. All three suits were filed on behalf of voters in the three states by The National Redistricting Action Fund (NRAF) chaired by former Attorney General Eric Holder. A copy of each complaint is here: Louisiana, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. The suits were filed in anticipation of gridlock between the legislature and executive branch, especially…
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Minnesota Lawsuit Asks Court to Get a Jump on State Redistricting

By EditorMar 01, 2021
The delayed census redistricting data delivery schedule has put many states in a bind as they run up against state constitutional and statutory deadlines for redistricting. In Minnesota, the deadline for drawing a congressional map is in February of 2022, but the state has a decades-long history of not accomplishing the task. A new lawsuit filed in state court seeks to get ahead of the problem. According to the lawsuit filed on the 19th, the situation is dire. Population projections indicate that the state may lose a congressional seat in the upcoming apportionment scheduled to be released later this Spring.…
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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.

By EditorOct 23, 2020
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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Federal Court: North Carolina Congressional Districts Illegal Partisan Gerrymander

Federal Court: North Carolina Congressional Districts Illegal Partisan Gerrymander

By EditorJan 14, 2018
North Carolina - On January 9th, a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina ruled that the state's 2016 Plan violates the Equal Protection Clause, the First Amendment, and Article I of the Constitution.  Survey the news coverage. (more…)
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Federal District Court Finds Partisan Gerrymander in Wisconsin Assembly Map

Federal District Court Finds Partisan Gerrymander in Wisconsin Assembly Map

By EditorNov 21, 2016
Wisconsin -  A three-judge federal district court in Wisconsin has invalidated the Republican-drawn state assembly district map enacted in August 2011 as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.  If the ruling stands - and that's a very big "IF," this case will be the first successful approach to creating a workable standard for courts to use in determining whether a partisan gerrymander rises to the level of impermissible gerrymandering under the first amendment and equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.  Read more in the New York Times ,  Salon.com, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and Rick Hasen's Electionlawblog.        Read the District Court…
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