"[249][250], On May 29, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States dismissed Agre v. Wolf, a separate suit alleging unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering in the state's congressional district map, as moot. [104], Charlie Spies, an attorney representing Michigan Republicans, told the following to The Detroit News: "We will likely see a stay and urge caution in drawing conclusions from this opinion, which we believe is at odds with where the Supreme Court will end up." MSU is an affirmative-action, equal-opportunity employer. "[86][87][88][89], On June 8, 2015, the high court agreed to hear the case. The unanimous opinion of the court was delivered by Justice Antonin Scalia, who wrote the following:[91], In February 2017, a three-judge panel was named to hear the case. [18][19], On August 25, 2015, a federal court heard oral arguments in the case. In the order announcing the release of the draft plans, Persily noted that "these draft plans are provided at this early date to give the parties time to lodge objections and to make suggestions, as to unpairing incumbents or otherwise, that might be accommodated in the final plan," which was due to the court by December 1, 2017. On May 10, 2011, the legislature approved a congressional redistricting plan, but this proposal was vetoed by the governor. On April 11, 2012, the state legislature approved a congressional redistricting plan, which was signed into law by the governor on April 23, 2012. Again, yes and no. The court ordered the state to enact a remedial plan by June 14, 2019. Republicans have complete control over the redistricting process in 20 states, Democrats in 10 states. Wisconsin Solicitor General Misha Tseytlin doubted the viability of a further challenge, saying, "I think it is quite notable that [the plaintiffs] put together a failry large, well-funded litigation team, had a four-day trial, and the Supreme Court unanimously held 9-0 they did not prove the basis of standing. The defendants appealed this decision to the Supreme Court of the United States, which agreed to take up the case and scheduled oral argument for March 26, 2019. Moreover, as demonstrated by the results of the 2012 and 2014 elections, among other evidence, we conclude that Act 43 has had its intended effect. Many incumbents do, for starters. Redistricting appears to be unconstitutional. In 2019, the Supreme Court ruled in Rucho v. Common Cause that the federal courts have no role to play in blocking partisan gerrymanders. But Republicans still won 63 of the 99 State Assembly districts. On May 31, 2018, the state supreme court upheld Marchant's decision, allowing the contested district maps to stand. Some are made up of equal numbers of Republicans, Democrats and independents. All United States Representatives and state legislators are elected from political divisions called districts. See Rucho v. Common Cause for more information. By promulgating mandatory criteria the General Assembly could not anticipate in 2011, and that are found nowhere in the Pennsylvania Constitution, withholding guidance as to how to achieve compliance with Pennsylvania law until two days before the court's imposed deadline to enact a new plan, creating a proportional-representation criterion that is practically impossible to implement, and imposing a remedial plan that had been in the works all along, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ensured that its desired plan to draft the new map would be successful. But the District Court's revision of the House districts in Wake and Mecklenburg Counties had nothing to do with that. Redistricting is the redrawing of legislative districts. By Nick Corasaniti,Reid J. Epstein,Taylor Johnston,Rebecca Lieberman and Eden WeingartNov. Mathis' removal was confirmed by a two-thirds vote in the Arizona State Senate. "[197], Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause North Carolina, praised the court's decision: "The court has made clear that partisan gerrymandering violates our state's constitution and is unacceptable. Here in Michigan, for instance, we just amended our own state constitution to explicitly require partisan fairness, that is, that the maps be fair to all parties. On March 7, 2012, Mann issued her map, which was drawn by Nathaniel Persily, a professor at Columbia Law School. The commission submitted its final recommendations to the state legislature on January 8, 2013. The congressional district plan was not subject to litigation. In the challengers' view, this approach foreclosed a holistic analysis of each district and led the District Court to give insufficient weight to the 55 percent [black voting age population] target and other relevant evidence that race predominated. Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor penned a dissenting opinion, which was joined by Associate Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, and Elena Kagan. [238], Justices Debra Todd, Christine Donohue, Kevin M. Dougherty, and David N. Wecht formed the court's majority. accessibility issues, please let us know. This time, lets say the Blue party enjoys 64 percent support statewide, and the Red party 36 percent. [6], In 2010, Shelby County, Alabama, a jurisdiction subject to preclearance, sued the United States Attorney General, challenging Section 4(b) and 5 as unconstitutional. Scott Walker, a Republican, lost by less than 30,000 votes statewide, a margin of just one percentage point. Because the present suit is indisputably 'an action challenging the constitutionality of the apportionment of congressional districts,' the District Judge was, We now note our jurisdiction and review the District Court's decision for an abuse of discretion, keeping in mind that a preliminary injunction, as 'an extraordinary remedy never awarded as of right.' However, the court left intact parts of the Voting Rights Act that prohibit racial or ethnic gerrymandering. [127], According to The Almanac of American Politics, following the 2012 election, the first to take place under the new maps, Democrats won four of the state's 13 congressional seats, although they "won a majority of the state's votes in House races. Click here to contact our editorial staff, and click here to report an error. The court ordered that this plan be adopted by the legislature and signed into law by the governor by November 1, 2017. By a hybrid of both legislative and commission. The four remaining district maps adopted by the district court (in Hoke, Cumberland, Guilford, Sampson, and Wayne counties) were permitted to stand. It's the redrawing of the boundaries of congressional and state legislative districts. [35], On July 29, 2011, the Arkansas Board of Apportionment approved new state legislative district maps. But in districts that are safest in November, lawmakers are finding great challenges in primary campaigns. [84], On October 4, 2011, the governor's advisory redistricting commission released a proposal for new congressional districts. [334], The plaintiffs in the case proposed a three-part test for determining whether illegal partisan gerrymandering has occurred in a state. The panel, comprising Judges Paul C. Ridgeway, Joseph N. Crosswhite, and Alma L. Hinton, while noting that the plaintiffs had "demonstrated a reasonable likelihood of success on the merits of their claims," said issuing a stay at this juncture "would interrupt voting by citizens already underway. The Court has been working diligently and has made substantial progress toward resolution of the claims on the 2011 plans; however, it has not yet reached a final decision. A panel of three federal judges appointed federal magistrate judge Roanne Mann to implement a map. Now all Michiganders can help by engaging with the Commission, participating in its meetings, telling the commissioners about your community and how you would like it to fit within the district maps for the State. [35], On November 1, 2011, the United States Department of Justice precleared these plans. After considering responses from the legislature, the commission produced its final redistricting plan on February 12, 2013. For the judiciary, this should be the end of the inquiry. Drew Compton, an aide to state Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R), said, "Even though it's not always a flattering process, [Brobson] found [the map] to be constitutional on all grounds. Jennifer Trenkamp, MSUToday editor. At the time of redistricting, Republicans held majorities in both chambers of the Missouri General Assembly. Again, this Court agrees.". Once the District Court had ensured that the racial gerrymanders at issue in this case were remedied, its proper role in North Carolina's legislative redistricting process was at an end. On October 17, 2011, Idaho's redistricting commission approved a new congressional district map. The decennial redistricting process, in which states use fresh population data from the U.S. Census Bureau to draw new congressional and state legislative district lines, would normally have been well underway by now. Those Republican seats threatened to tip Democratic. District lines are redrawn every 10 years following completion of the United States census. The governor signed these into law on January 20, 2012. 2) As weve seen in past elections, the Electoral College can throw off results of a whole election. The suits were backed by the National Redistricting Commission, a nonprofit affiliate of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, chaired by Eric Holder, former U.S. Attorney General. Because fundamental principles of constitutional standing and judicial restraint prohibit us from exercising jurisdiction, we have no authority to take any action other than to dismiss the Plaintiffs verified complaint. The stay applied to five revised state House districts in Wake and Mecklenburg counties (four in Wake County, one in Mecklenburg). According to the lawsuit, the plans diluted minority voting strength, violated the "one person, one vote" principle, and illegally split counties in order to consolidate Republican dominance in other districts. In a statement, Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) announced his plans to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of the United States: "We appreciate that the panel ruled in favor of Texas on many issues in the case. Consequently, the state's courts were asked to intervene and adopt a new congressional map. Robert Bentley (R) for his signature, then to the U.S. Department of Justice for preclearance. This court of action cannot square with either the plain text of the U.S. Constitution's Elections Clause, which delegates redistricting authority to 'the Legislature' of each state, or with this Court's interpretive precedent, which holds that '[r]edistricting involves lawmaking in its essential features and most important aspect.'. [31][32], Following the 2010 United States Census, Arkansas neither gained nor lost congressional seats. He said the following:[163], On June 5, 2017, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a unanimous per curiam ruling affirming the decision of the district court, which had earlier determined that the aforementioned 28 districts had been subject to an illegal racial gerrymander. In the subsequent redistricting cycle, Democrats controlled both chambers of the state legislature and the governorship. Now, lets draw a map that helps the Red party. "There are two ways to assign seats to different geographic areas: apportioning and redistricting. [24][25], On June 13, 2018, attorneys for Democratic voters in three states (Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana) filed three separate lawsuits in federal court, alleging in each that existing congressional district maps prevented black voters from electing candidates of their choosing, in violation of the Voting Rights Act. We need districts roughly the same size. Before Democrats assumed the majority, they had asked Michael Best and Friedrich to turn over the requested records, but the firm refused, saying that it answered to the majority leader. In March 2011, two citizens challenged this provision in federal court, arguing that the delay "violated the Constitution since it left in place for one election districts that were not of equal population." The court's opinion, penned by Roberts, did not address the broader question of whether partisan gerrymandering claims are justiciable and remanded the case to the lower court for further proceedings. [263][264], Following the 2010 United States Census, Texas gained four congressional seats. We accordingly affirm the judgment of the District Court. [261][35], On June 22, 2011, the state legislature approved a state legislative redistricting, plan which was signed into law on June 28, 2011. In addition, a Republican held the governorship. In March 2018, United States Solicitor General Noel Francisco requested that court permit him, on behalf of the federal government, to argue in support of Texas during oral argument on April 24, 2018.[283][284][285][286][287][288][289][290]. On October 17, 2011, the state legislature approved new congressional district boundaries, which were signed into law on October 20, 2011. [296], On October 6, 2013, opponents challenged the state's congressional district map in federal court, alleging "racial gerrymander without adequate justification under the Voting Rights Act."
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