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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The Supreme Court’s Less Than Graceful Exit from the Thicket

The Supreme Court’s Less Than Graceful Exit from the Thicket

The long-awaited partisan gerrymandering decision has come down from the nation's highest court. A 5-4 majority decided to exit the "political thicket" and leave the policing of political gerrymandered redistricting maps to the States, commissions, congress; anybody, except the nine of them. Below are brief excerpts (with explanation) from the both the majority opinion and a passionate dissent from Justice Kagan in the consolidated cases of Lamone v. Benisek, ET Al. (Maryland) and Rucho v. Common Cause, ET Al. (North Carolina). Read the entire case here. The Court: Partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal…
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Listen to Supreme Court Oral Argument in the Maryland Partisan Gerrymandering Case

Listen to Supreme Court Oral Argument in the Maryland Partisan Gerrymandering Case

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

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

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

SCOTUSblog Symposium in Anticipation of Oral Arguments in Partisan Gerrymandering Cases

. 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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Are Redistricting Commissions in Danger?

Are Redistricting Commissions in Danger?

Arizona, California and more recently, Ohio are among the handful of states that have established independent redistricting commissions by ballot measures. The U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld a challenge to Arizona's commission, but at least one election law expert warns that the court may reverse itself on this question in the future. Rick Hasen, Professor of law and political science at the University of California, Irvine believes this is a real possibility. Read the article in the Atlantic.
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MD and NC Partisan Gerrymandering Cases Return to the U.S. Supreme Court

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

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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Supreme Court  Mostly Befuddled in Oral Argument Over Maryland Partisan Gerrymandering Case

Supreme Court Mostly Befuddled in Oral Argument Over Maryland Partisan Gerrymandering Case

  Washington D.C. - This Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in one of the three partisan gerrymandering cases before the court this term (Benesik v. Lamone).  The transcript is available here.  In this novel first amendment challenge to Maryland's sixth congressional district, the court appears to remain befuddled at how to apply neutral standards when measuring just how much political gerrymandering is too much, although almost all of the justices seem to agree that Maryland's sixth district is "too much."   (more…)
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U.S. Supreme Court Stays Lower Court Order to Redraw North Carolina Congressional Map

U.S. Supreme Court Stays Lower Court Order to Redraw North Carolina Congressional Map

North Carolina -  This just in.  The U.S. Supreme Court has stayed a lower court order to redraw North Carolina's congressional districts.  That court recently found the North Carolina map to be an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander and ordered that the map be redrawn in time for the 2018 elections.  Does this mean the court will likely overturn this case in the end?  (more…)
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Watch: UW Professor Reviews Wisconsin Partisan Gerrymandering Case in Detail

Watch: UW Professor Reviews Wisconsin Partisan Gerrymandering Case in Detail

This challenge to Wisconsin's state legislative district map alleges the Wisconsin state assembly drew politically gerrymandered districts to entrench Republican power in 2011.  Plaintiffs claim the gerrymander was so egregious, it violated the first and 14th amendments.  A federal district court panel invalidated the map on those grounds in 2016. Video: UW Professor David Canon gives a detailed overview (40mins) of the case last Fall just before the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyLQBn-C8MM
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