Missouri State Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument in 3 Challenges to 2025 Congressional Map

By EditorMay 12, 2026

The Missouri Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday morning in three consolidated challenges to the state's new congressional map, known as the Missouri First Map, which Gov. Mike Kehoe signed into law following a special legislative session in September 2025. The map, drawn as part of President Trump's broader mid-decade redistricting push to secure additional Republican congressional seats ahead of the 2026 midterms, splits parts of Kansas City into three districts and adds Republican-leaning areas to the district of Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, one of the state's two Democratic House members. The Republican-led legislature passed the map last fall, targeting one…

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With Election Clock Ticking, Virginia Democrats File Emergency SCOTUS Appeal

By EditorMay 11, 2026

Virginia Democrats on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to revive the voter-approved redistricting amendment struck down last week by the Supreme Court of Virginia, escalating the fight over the state's congressional map to the nation's highest court. In an emergency application filed with Chief Justice John Roberts, attorneys representing House Speaker Don Scott, Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas, and the commonwealth of Virginia asked the court to pause the state ruling while the appeal moves forward. Democrats are asking the court to immediately freeze the Virginia ruling and keep the new congressional maps…

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Tennessee Enacts New Congressional Map, Eliminating State’s Only Majority-Black District

By EditorMay 10, 2026

Last week's Supreme Court ruling in Louisiana v. Callais dramatically altered the legal landscape for redistricting across the South, and Tennessee wasted no time responding. In a 6-3 decision, the Court struck down Louisiana's majority-Black congressional district as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, substantially narrowing the scope of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act for challenging district maps. Critically, the Court raised the evidentiary bar for plaintiffs, requiring them to prove discriminatory intent tied to present-day conditions and to offer alternative maps that also satisfy a state's legitimate redistricting goals, making it significantly harder to bring successful Voting Rights Act…

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What Just Happened? Callais Decision Triggers Mutliple Map Redraws

By EditorMay 07, 2026

The Supreme Court has struck down Louisiana’s 2024 congressional map in Louisiana v. Callais, ruling 6-3 that the state’s creation of a second majority-Black district was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The map had been drawn after lower courts found Louisiana’s 2022 plan likely violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act because it contained only one majority-Black district in a state where Black residents make up roughly one-third of the population. But the new 2024 map prompted a separate challenge from voters who argued that Louisiana had sorted voters by race in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. The Court…

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Indiana Senate Rejects Mid-Cycle Congressional Map Proposal

By EditorDec 11, 2025

The Indiana Republican-led Senate voted down a mid-decade congressional map on Thursday, December 11, 2025, which would have favored the Republican party in the 2026 elections. The map was designed to increase the number of Republican-controlled congressional seats from seven to nine by effectively eliminating Indiana’s two Democratic-held districts by splitting Indianapolis into four districts. The redistricting plan was defeated by a bipartisan majority, with 21 Republican senators joining all 10 Democrats in the chamber to vote against the measure. The vote occurred despite months of intense national pressure, including urging from President Donald Trump to engage in mid-cycle redistricting.…

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Redistricting Recap Nov 14 2025: DOJ Joins California Map Lawsuit. Indiana and Kansas Pause Mid-Decade Redistricting. Utah Judge Makes Map Decision

By EditorNov 14, 2025

Redistricting Developments for the Week of November 10th, 2025. In case you missed it: U.S. Department of Justice Joins Lawsuit to Block California’s New Congressional Map The California Proposition 50 map, approved by state voters on November 4, was crafted to redraw several U.S. House seats in favor of Democrats. The U.S. Department of Justice recently intervened in a lawsuit brought by California Republicans, arguing that the map prioritises race in a way that violates the Constitution and disadvantages certain voters. The case symbolizes the broader national competition over mid-decade redistricting and the high stakes for control of Congress. Indiana…

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Utah Judge Chooses League of Women Voters’ Congressional Map, Rejects Legislature’s Plan

By EditorNov 14, 2025

A Utah trial court has selected a new congressional plan for the 2026 cycle, rejecting the Legislature’s October “Map C” and adopting the map offered by plaintiffs; the League of Women Voters of Utah and Mormon Women for Ethical Government.” In a 90-page ruling issued just before the court’s November 10 deadline, Third District Judge Dianna M. Gibson found Map C to be an “extreme partisan outlier” drawn to favor Republicans and held that it failed to comply with the neutral criteria required by Utah’s voter-approved Proposition 4. Judge Gibson ordered Plaintiffs’ Map 1 (see below) to take effect in…

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Ohio Redistricting Commission Unanimously Approves New Congressional Map with Implications for the Mid-Decade Push

By EditorOct 31, 2025

Ohio’s seven-member Redistricting Commission voted unanimously today to approve a new congressional map that will govern the state’s 15 U.S. House districts starting with the 2026 election cycle. The bipartisan deal preserves a GOP advantage and could shift the balance from the current 10-5 split to something closer to 12-3. Commissioners from both parties backed the plan to meet the Oct. 31 constitutional deadline and avoid sending map-drawing back to the legislature. Why a new map was required: under Ohio’s 2018 reform (Article XIX), the 2021 congressional map was adopted without the required bipartisan supermajority, authorizing it to govern only…

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North Carolina Becomes the 3rd State to Enact a Mid-Decade Congressional Map

By EditorOct 25, 2025

North Carolina has enacted a mid-decade congressional map that analysts say will shift the state’s delegation from 10 - 4 to 11 Republicans and 3 Democrats. GOP lawmakers pushed the plan through both chambers on Wednesday, October 22. Because the North Carolina constitution exempts redistricting bills from the governor’s veto, the map became law the moment the House vote concluded. Local coverage notes the new lines overhaul the coastal 1st District, trimming its Black voting-age share below 40 percent and adding Republican-leaning counties, while shoring up neighboring GOP seats. View a PDF of the map. The mid-cycle redraw comes after…

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How the Census Bureau and NCSL Modernized America’s Redistricting System

By EditorOct 07, 2025

The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) offers an engaging look at how its decades-long partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau reshaped the way America draws political boundaries. The article, “How NCSL and the Census Bureau Modernized Redistricting,” traces the evolution of that collaboration back to the 1970s, when the chaotic patchwork of state redistricting practices prompted Congress to pass Public Law 94-171. The law required the Census Bureau to deliver population data tailored to state district maps within a year of each census, laying the foundation for the precise, data-driven redistricting process used today. Through behind-the-scenes negotiations and technical…

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