partisan gerrymandering

Listen to Supreme Court Oral Arguments in the North Carolina Partisan Gerrymandering Case

By Michelle DavisApr 25, 2019

On March 26, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Rucho v. Common Cause, a partisan gerrymandering case from North Carolina.Click here for background on this case and its companion case, Benesik v. Lamone (Maryland). For a pre oral symposium hosted by ScotusBlog, click here. Click here to listen to oral argument in its companion case, Benesik v. Lamone.

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SCOTUSblog Symposium in Anticipation of Oral Arguments in Partisan Gerrymandering Cases

By Michelle DavisFeb 25, 2019

. The Supreme Court will hear oral argument in two key partisan gerrymandering cases on March 26; one from Maryland (Benesik v. Lamone) and one from North Carolina (Rucho v. Common Cause). In preparation for these arguments, the editors at SCOTUSblog hosted this pre-argument symposium featuring a group of experts on redistricting law. Here is a quick summary of each contributor's essay. You can click to read each article in full. . Justin Levitt: Suggests that the unconstitutionality of excessive partisan gerrymandering follows from the fact that there is widespread agreement (in the legal community) that any State law that…

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Watch: A Mathematical Measurement of Partisan Gerrymandering

By Michelle DavisFeb 05, 2019

. Researchers at Duke University do a good job explaining their quantitative analysis of North Carolina’s congressional redistricting maps in lay terms. In this video they present fairly solid statistical proof that partisan gerrymandering indeed can be sniffed out by statistical algorithms that show when a map is the result of intentional and precise human design, and not mere adjustment of the boundaries that are already there. Of course, this only proves that partisan gerrymandering exists, and it is a helpful measure of the stark differences in the election results between a map drawn with precise political motivations versus on…

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Redistricting Reform Advocates Strategize at Gerrymandering Summit

By EditorJan 22, 2019

The USC Sol Price School of Public Policy hosted the "Terminate Gerrymandering Summit and Fair Maps Incubator " Conference earlier this month as part of an effort to take advantage of the momentum that independent redistricting commission movements have created across the country with several states passing ballot initiatives to create "California Style" commissions. . The project is the brainchild of former CA governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The institute on campus that bears his name hosted this event at which he was the keynote speaker. Schwarzenegger explains that he wants to "accelerate the fight, bringing together those who’ve won nonpartisan redistricting…

NEWS, Redistricting Commissions, Redistricting Gerrymanders, REFORM, Strategy and Politicspartisan gerrymandering, reform, USC

MD and NC Partisan Gerrymandering Cases Return to the U.S. Supreme Court

By Michelle DavisJan 08, 2019

On January 4th, the U.S. Supreme Court took up two long-standing partisan gerrymandering challenges on appeal from two federal district courts; one in Maryland and the other in North Carolina. The question in both of these cases was not whether there was partisan gerrymandering in the making of these maps. Instead it was whether this type of partisan gerrymandering is constitutional or not. The high court has seemed to duck and weave whenever it has been presented with this question in the past, but this time it feels different. Below is a little background to provide some context for the…

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Maryland’s Sixth District Ruled a Partisan Gerrymander by Federal District Court

By Michelle DavisNov 14, 2018

On November 7th, after managing a protracted series of procedural issues involving a lawsuit that was initially filed in 2013, a federal district court panel invalidated Maryland's 6th congressional district on grounds that it was an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. Maryland has until early March 2019 to enact a new congressional map or the court will create its own commission to do so. This case is notable since the court overturned the map on 1st amendment grounds instead of the 14th amendment, which until recently had been the basis for most if not all partisan gerrymandering challenges. (more…)

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Supreme Court Declines to Hear Pennsylvania Republican’s Congressional Map Appeal

By Michelle DavisNov 01, 2018

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari to Republican lawmakers in the Pennsylvania legislature after a January ruling by the Pa. State Supreme Court invalidating the congressional map enacted by the body in 2011. (more…)

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Listen to the NCSL Webinar on Recent Supreme Court Gerrymandering Decisions

By EditorJul 24, 2018

Last week the National Conference of State Legislatures hosted this webinar on the recent Supreme Court Partisan Gerrymandering decisions. You can watch/listen below. The discussion gives good insight into the current posture of the litigation in Wisconsin and Maryland and other states. (more…)

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Leading Expert in Redistricting “Grofman,” Suggests a Path to Proving Partisan Gerrymandering

By EditorJul 09, 2018

Bernard Grofman, author, professor at the University of California at Irvine, and an expert witness in a multitude of redistricting cases, published this article in the Washington Post today. In it Grofman offers a way for courts to assess the level of partisan gerrymandering on a district-by-district basis when the challenge is based on the 14th amendment. His assessment is timely, given the Supreme Court's recent decision in Gill v. Whitford, which rejected challenges to a map as a whole. See our discussion of that here. Grofman points to the court's line of racial gerrymandering cases as a guide and…

Equal Protection, Partisan Gerrymandering, Redistricting, Redistricting GerrymandersGrofman, legal, partisan gerrymandering

Supreme Court Keeps Partisan Gerrymandering Challenge Alive in Wisconsin

By EditorJul 09, 2018

Wisconsin - Whitford v. Gill This case had been the one to watch because it offered the court an opportunity to expound on when partisan gerrymandering becomes egregious enough to violate the 14th amendment. In this case for the first time in history, a federal district court invalidated a statewide map as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. However, last week the Supreme Court, unceremoniously punted the case back by remanding it for the plaintiffs to properly show they have standing. The only thing the court did confirm in Whitford was that it would not consider 14th amendment based partisan gerrymandering challenges to…

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