Watch: House Committee Holds Hearing on Census Timeline

Watch: House Committee Holds Hearing on Census Timeline

On September 10, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform held a hearing on the status of the Census Bureau's operations in light of Covid-19 delays and other challenges. The hearing was prompted by suspension of count operations in April due to Covid-19, a failed request for Congress to extend critical statutory deadlines for delivery of census data, and an abrupt pivot by the bureau to end its count operations early in an effort to meet the original deadlines for delivery of apportionment and redistricting data. https://youtu.be/c4OF6jQFfgc Witnesses include: J. Christopher Mihm, Managing Director, Strategic Issues Team, Government Accountability Office…
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Watch: House Judiciary Committee Hearing on  Voting Discrimination

Watch: House Judiciary Committee Hearing on Voting Discrimination

Date: Tuesday, September 10, 2019 - 10:00am Location: 2141 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary heard testimony regarding evidence of current and ongoing voting discrimination. Witnesses included: Mr. Derrick Johnson ,President and CEO, NAACP Ms. Vanita Gupta ,President and CEO, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights J. Christian Adams, President and General Counsel, Public Interest Legal Foundation Mr. Dale Ho, Director, Voting Rights Project, American Civil Liberties Union Ms. Myrna Perez, Director, Voting Rights and Elections Program, Brennan Center for Justice Ms. Natalie A. Landreth, Senior Staff Attorney, Native American Rights Fund https://youtu.be/VoRQ6-CD7Yc?t=1837
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Federal District Court Finds Partisan Gerrymander in Wisconsin Assembly Map

Federal District Court Finds Partisan Gerrymander in Wisconsin Assembly Map

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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Book Review: Daley’s “Rat**cked” Tackles Redistricting Through the Decades

Book Review: Daley’s “Rat**cked” Tackles Redistricting Through the Decades

New York - Pulitzer prize-winning writer Elizabeth Kolbert and staff writer for the New Yorker, reviews this book: "Ratf**ked," detailing the Republican party's Redistricting Majority Project or "REDMAP." This was a strategic effort beginning decades ago to realign the electoral map in favor the party.  Written by David Daley, editor of Salon.com - the book describes its provocative title as an actual term of art, associated with dirty tricks for partisan advantage; gerrymandering was one of them.  Spoiler alert: the Voting Rights Act helped their efforts, especially in the 1990's.  Interestingly, Kolbert's article identifies Virginian Patrick Henry as the first person…
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