gerrymandering

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SCOTUS Issues Ruling on Louisiana Election Map

Lower court called it an illegal racial gerrymander

(Newser) - The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered Louisiana to hold congressional elections in 2024 using a House map with a second mostly Black district, despite a lower-court ruling that called the map an illegal racial gerrymander. The order allows the use of a map that has majority Black populations in two...

Wisconsin Governor Signs 'Fair Maps' Into Law

'We're a purple state, and I believe our maps should reflect that basic fact'

(Newser) - Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers signed new legislative district maps into law on Monday that he proposed and that the Republicans who control the Legislature passed to avoid having the liberal-controlled state Supreme Court draw the lines. Democrats hailed the signing as a major political victory in the swing state...

Ohio Supreme Court Says Nope to GOP's District Map

Justices ruled that GOP-drawn congressional district blueprint was gerrymandered

(Newser) - The Ohio Supreme Court rejected a new map of state congressional districts Friday as gerrymandered, sending the blueprint back for another try. In the 4-3 decision, justices returned the map to the powerful Ohio Redistricting Commission, or its map-drawing counterparts in the Legislature, and said they must assure the next...

Justice Department Sues Texas Over New Maps

Attorney general says redrawn districts discriminate against minorities

(Newser) - The Department of Justice sued Texas over new redistricting maps Monday, saying the plans discriminate against voters in the state’s booming Latino and Black populations, per the AP . The lawsuit, filed in the Western District of Texas, claims the state violates part of the Voting Rights Act. It is...

Supreme Court Won't Stop Gerrymandered Maps

Justices decide that federal judges can't play a role in voting maps drawn for partisan gain

(Newser) - A big decision on gerrymandering out of the Supreme Court on Thursday: The court ruled that federal courts have no role to play in policing political districts drawn for partisan gain, per the AP . The decision could embolden such newly drawn districts when state lawmakers undertake the next round of...

Big Ruling on Virginia Has Unusual Supreme Split

5-4 decision has liberals and conservatives on both sides of gerrymandering ruling

(Newser) - Virginians will elect members of the House of Delegates this year using a map seen as favorable to Democrats, according to a ruling Monday by the US Supreme Court. The political boundaries are important because Republicans currently control the House by a 51-49 margin, per the AP . Only four states...

Big Decision in Michigan Gerrymandering Case

Judges order state to redraw dozens of districts

(Newser) - Michigan must redraw dozens of congressional and legislative districts for the 2020 election because Republicans configured them to guarantee their political dominance over the last decade by unconstitutionally diluting the power of Democratic voters, federal judges ruled Thursday. In a 3-0 ruling—which will be appealed—the panel gave the...

'Fairness Formula' Could Redraw State's Voting Map

Missouri is using first-of-its-kind formula

(Newser) - The votes won't be cast for another four years, yet Democrats already appear likely to gain seats in Missouri's Republican-dominated Legislature in 2022. The reason: a one-of-its kind redistricting initiative approved by voters in the recent midterm elections. Missouri's initiative marks a new frontier in a growing...

N. Carolina May Need New Maps Before Midterms

Federal judges say the current ones were too heavily manipulated by Republicans

(Newser) - Federal judges on Monday affirmed their earlier decision striking North Carolina's congressional districts as unconstitutional because Republicans drew them with excessive partisanship, per the AP . Acting under an order of the US Supreme Court to re-examine the case, the three-judge panel ruled again in favor of election advocacy groups...

Supreme Court Just Punted on a Major Voting Issue

Justices sidestep big-picture ruling about gerrymandering

(Newser) - The Supreme Court has ruled on two gerrymandering cases from Wisconsin and Maryland—but without deciding on the broader issue of whether electoral maps can give an unfair advantage to a political party, the AP reports. The justices unanimously ruled against Wisconsin Democrats who challenged legislative districts that gave Republicans...

Court Decision Makes Dem House Takeover More Likely

The US Supreme Court and a federal panel rejected challenges to a new Pennsylvania congressional map

(Newser) - Boosting Democrats' chances of retaking control of Congress in this fall's midterm elections, the US Supreme Court and a federal panel on Monday rejected GOP challenges to a newly redrawn congressional map imposed on Pennsylvania by the state's high court. The courts dismissed requests to throw out or...

New Pa. Voting Map Could Affect Control of US House

It seems to boost Democrats' chances in newly drawn districts

(Newser) - Pennsylvania's high court issued a new congressional district map for the state's 2018 elections Monday, potentially giving Democrats a boost in their quest to capture control of the US House unless Republicans are able to stop it in federal court. The map of Pennsylvania's 18 congressional districts...

In NC, an Unprecedented Court Decision on Voting

Federal judges rip up districts over gerrymandering, order new ones drawn

(Newser) - Republican lawmakers in North Carolina have some unexpected work to do before this year's midterms: A federal court just ripped up the state's voting map and ordered the GOP-controlled General Assembly to draw a new one, reports the News & Observer of Raleigh. The three-judge panel ruled unanimously...

Kennedy May Be Leaning Left on Huge Political Case

In questioning on gerrymandering, he seems to side with Democratic challengers

(Newser) - Justice Anthony Kennedy may end up casting the deciding vote in one of the Supreme Court's biggest cases this term—and he appears to be leaning toward joining the court's more liberal justices when it comes to reining in gerrymandering. The court heard arguments Tuesday in a redistricting...

SCOTUS to Hear Case That Could Affect Our Elections

It's court's first case on partisan gerrymandering in more than a decade

(Newser) - The Supreme Court is wading into the thicket of partisan redistricting in a case from Wisconsin. The justices on Monday said they will decide whether Republican lawmakers drew electoral districts so out of whack with the state's political breakdown that they violated the constitutional rights of Democratic voters. It'...

Supreme Court Strikes Down 2 GOP-Drawn NC Districts

Says Republicans drew lines based on race to limit power of African-American voters

(Newser) - The Supreme Court struck down two North Carolina congressional districts Monday because race played too large a role in their creation, reports the AP . The justices ruled that Republicans who controlled the state legislature and governor's office in 2011 placed too many African-Americans in the districts, weakening African-American voting...

Judge Scraps GOP-Drawn Florida Map

Calls it a 'mockery' of amendments requiring non-political districting

(Newser) - Republicans "made a mockery" of recent Florida constitutional amendments requiring lawmakers to draw fair political districts, a state judge ruled yesterday, ordering that two particularly egregious districts be redrawn—and with them, probably all districts that touch them. "Republican political consultants or operatives did, in fact, conspire to...

GOP Moves to Scrap Winner-Take-All Voting

Virginia poised to vote on changes next week; other states considering

(Newser) - Republicans in swing states that went for President Obama are pushing for a big change in how the Electoral College works, reports the Washington Post . The idea is to apportion electoral votes according to congressional district, instead of the winner-take-all system that most states employ. In Virginia, for example, the...

Supreme Court Axes Texas Electoral Map

They say judge strayed too far from legislature's vision

(Newser) - The Supreme Court threw out a federal court's draft of a Texas electoral map, saying it strayed too far from the one drawn by the state's Republican legislature. The decision, which was issued by the court as a whole, rather than signed by an individual justice, is a...

Corporations Push to Influence Redistricting

 Corporations 
 Push to Influence 
 Redistricting 
pro publica investigation
Sep 23, 2011 1:36 PM CDT

Corporations Push to Influence Redistricting

As do other special interests

(Newser) - “Minnesotans for a Fair Redistricting” may sound like a pretty innocuous, non-partisan group. But its leadership is almost identical to the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota, a group tied to Koch Industries, a ProPublica investigation discovered. The Freedom Foundation’s head, Annette Meeks, claims she has “no involvement” with...

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