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☆ Justices Allowed a Contested Voting Map in South Carolina
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Matthew Cullen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority cleared the way today for South Carolina to keep using a congressional map that a lower court had deemed an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. All three liberal justices dissented. The ruling handed a victory to the state’s Republicans by allowing them to maintain a stronghold on a district in Charleston County. The immediate effect will be limited: This year’s elections were already set to take place under the contested map. In dissent, the liberal justices argued that it could become all but impossible to challenge voting maps as racial gerrymanders.

Persons: Samuel Alito, ”, Richard Hasen Organizations: voters Locations: South Carolina, Charleston County

☆ Van Jones: There’s hope and despair in what happened to my home state
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-02 | by ( Van Jones | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —Many were shocked last year when the Tennessee legislature dramatically expelled state representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson. When I was a legislative intern, the state of Tennessee was controlled by the Democrats and my boss was a man named Jimmy Naifeh. But even in my Southern home state, no opponent tried to score cheap political points based on his Arab background. Left-leaning or moderate Tennesseeans have virtually no say in their state legislature on the political matters that govern their lives. Van Jones, with Justin Pearson and Justin Jones CNNSo even on issues like gun violence — on which a large majority of Tennesseans in both parties would like “red flag” laws — nothing gets done.

Persons: Anderson Cooper ”, Van Jones, Justin Jones, Justin Pearson, Gloria Johnson, Pearson, Jones, —, Jimmy Naifeh, I’m, won’t, Odessa Kelly, Kelly, Matthew Shoaf, Shoaf Organizations: CNN, GOP, Tennessee House, Tennessee Capitol, Tennessee, Democrats, Democratic Party, Tea Party, Republican, Justin Jones CNN, Odessa, Democratic, Congressional District, The, The Tennessee General Assembly Locations: Tennessee, Nashville, Lebanese, American, . Tennessee, Democratic, Tennessee’s, The Tennessee, Odessa, Sumner County

But it wasn’t until control of the state Supreme Court flipped in August after the election of liberal Justice Janet Protasiewicz that Democrats found a winning formula. The court accepted maps from the governor, Democratic and Republican lawmakers, as well as three other parties to the redistricting lawsuit. Facing a mid-March deadline from the state elections commission for new maps to be in place, the Legislature on Tuesday passed the Evers maps. “Republicans were not stuck between a rock and hard place,” Republican state Sen. Van Wanggaard said in a statement. The Wisconsin Supreme Court also has been asked by Democrats to take up a challenge to the state’s congressional district lines.

Persons: Tony Evers, Janet Protasiewicz, Protasiewicz, Evers, ”, Robin Vos, Sen, Van Wanggaard Organizations: — Wisconsin Democratic Gov, Republicans, Democrats, Republican, GOP, Democratic, Consultants, Legislature, Gov, Senate, . House, Wisconsin Supreme Locations: MADISON, Wis, Wisconsin

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Republicans urged the state Supreme Court on Thursday to ignore a report from redistricting consultants that determined GOP-proposed legislative maps were unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders. The liberal-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in December that the current Republican-drawn legislative maps were unconstitutional because not all the districts were contiguous. The court ordered the parties involved in the lawsuit to submit new maps that a pair of consultants then reviewed. While those talks continue, the Supreme Court accepted responses Thursday from Republicans and Democrats to the consultants report. Attorneys for the Legislature argued in their court filing Thursday that the consultants' report was about finding a political remedy to redistricting, not addressing the continuity issue.

Persons: Tony Evers, Evers, Tyler August, Janet Protasiewicz, “, ” Organizations: — Wisconsin Republicans, GOP, Republicans, Assembly, Republican, Democratic Gov, Democrats, U.S, Supreme, Democratic, Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty Locations: MADISON, Wis, Wisconsin

(AP) — Missouri's high court entertained arguments Thursday on whether to force changes to the state's Senate districts in a case that has divided majority-party Republicans over how to apply new voter-approved redistricting criteria. The lawsuit brought by voters contends that Senate districts in suburban St. Louis and western Missouri's Buchanan County violate the state constitution by needlessly splitting cities or counties into multiple districts. The outcome of the case won't affect immediate control of the Senate, where Republicans hold a 24-10 majority over Democrats. Deputy Solicitor General Maria Lanahan told judges that various other Senate districts — though not challenged by plaintiffs — also split counties while not following political subdivision lines. "Compact, contiguous territory is the first and most powerful line of defense against political and racial gerrymanders,” Senate Republicans wrote in a brief filed by attorney Eddie Greim.

Persons: Chuck Hatfield, Hatfield, Maria Lanahan, —, ”, Eddie Greim Organizations: JEFFERSON CITY, Republicans, Republican, GOP, Democratic, Senate, Democrats, Missouri House Republican, ” Locations: Mo, St, Louis, Missouri's Buchanan, Missouri, Buchanan, Hazelwood

N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Black and Latino voters sued in federal court on Monday seeking to strike down congressional districts drawn this fall by Republican state legislators that they argue weaken minority voting power in violation of the U.S. Constitution. Under the iteration of the congressional map that had been drawn by state judges for the 2022 elections, Democrats and Republicans each won seven seats. Meanwhile, the number of minority voters grows in the 12th, which is represented by Rep. Alma Adams of Charlotte. Rep. Jeff Jackson, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, already said he’s running for state attorney general, saying he can’t win reelection under the new congressional map. The latest congressional map “continues North Carolina’s long tradition of enacting redistricting plans that pack and crack minority voters into gerrymandered districts designed to minimize their voting strength," the plaintiffs' lawyers write.

Persons: gerrymanders, Tim Moore, Kathy Manning, Republican mapmakers, Don Davis, Alma Adams, Charlotte, Jeff Jackson, Moore Organizations: —, — North Carolina, Republican, U.S . Constitution, General, Republicans, Capitol, U.S . House, Black Democrats, 6th, GOP, Democratic, Rep, Mecklenburg County Democrat, Supreme Locations: RALEIGH, N.C, — North, U.S ., U.S, Charlotte, District, North, Greensboro, Pitt County, South Carolina, Mecklenburg County

☆ Federal Court Moves to Drastically Weaken Voting Rights Act
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Nick Corasaniti | More About Nick Corasaniti | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A federal appeals court moved on Monday to drastically weaken the Voting Rights Act, issuing a ruling that would effectively bar private citizens and civil rights groups from filing lawsuits under a central provision of the landmark civil rights law. The ruling, made by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, found that only the federal government could bring a legal challenge under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, a crucial part of the law that prohibits election or voting practices that discriminate against Americans based on race. The court’s current conservative majority has issued several key decisions in recent years that have weakened the Voting Rights Act. Passed in 1965, the Voting Rights Act was one of the most significant achievements of the civil rights movement, undoing decades of discriminatory Jim Crow laws and protecting against egregious racial gerrymanders. But the law has been under legal assault almost since its inception, and court decisions through the years have hollowed out key provisions, including a requirement that states with a history of discrimination in voting obtain approval from the federal government before changing their voting laws.

Persons: Jim Crow Organizations: U.S ., Appeals, Eighth Circuit, Supreme Locations: Alabama

☆ Democrats Plan to Spend Millions to Weaken Republican Supermajorities
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( Nick Corasaniti | More About Nick Corasaniti | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Democrats are planning to spend millions of dollars next year on just a few state legislative elections in Kansas, North Carolina, Kentucky and Wisconsin — states where they have little to no chance of winning control of a chamber. Yet what might appear to be an aimless move is decidedly strategic: Democrats are pushing to break up Republican supermajorities in states with Democratic governors, effectively battling to win back the veto pen district by district. Such supermajorities result when a single political party has enough votes in both chambers of a legislature to override a governor’s veto, often, though not always, by controlling two-thirds of the chamber. As gerrymanders built by both parties for decades have tipped the scales to favor the party of the map-drawers, legislative chambers have proved resistant to shifting political winds at the state level. At times, those gerrymanders have locked in minority rule in legislatures while statewide offices, like the governor’s, adhere to the desires of a simple majority of voters.

Persons: gerrymanders Organizations: Democratic Locations: Kansas , North Carolina , Kentucky, Wisconsin

☆ Opinion | Republicans Don’t Mind the Constitution. It’s Democracy They Don’t Like.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( Jamelle Bouie | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

It is very clear that given the power and the opportunity, a large portion of Republican lawmakers would turn the state against their political opponents: to disenfranchise them, to diminish their electoral influence, to limit or even neuter the ability of their representatives to exercise their political authority. So again, to the extent that “the Constitution” stands in for “American democracy,” Romney is right to say that much of his party just doesn’t believe in it. But if Romney means the literal Constitution itself — the actual words on the page — then his assessment of his fellow Republicans isn’t as straightforward as it seems. At times, Republicans seem fixated with the Constitution. When asked to consider gun regulation, Republicans home in on specific words in the Second Amendment — “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed” — to dismiss calls for reform.

Persons: we’ve, ”, Romney, isn’t, — Organizations: Republican, State, Florida Republicans, Ohio Republicans, Wisconsin Republicans, Alabama Republicans, Black, Republicans Locations: Tennessee, Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, “

Section 2 of the federal law says voting district lines can’t result in discrimination against minority voters, who must be given a chance to elect candidates of their choosing. Jones preliminarily ruled in 2022 that some parts of Georgia’s redistricting plans probably violate federal law, but the trial is needed to flesh out facts for a verdict. “The Voting Rights Act was designed for cases like this one," Lakin said. “If Georgia’s electoral system is not equally open to Black voters, what would have to change?" Tyson also renewed the state's argument that Georgia's maps were drawn to protect incumbents and to prioritize Republican majorities, motives that are legal under federal law.

Persons: Alabama's, Steve Jones, Jones preliminarily, Jones, Sophia Lin Lakin, Lakin, Bryan Tyson, Tyson, Jon Ossoff, Raphael Warnock, Joe Biden's, ” Tyson, William Cooper, Cooper, ”, Abha Khanna, Khanna Organizations: ATLANTA, U.S, Supreme, District, Republican, Assembly, ”, Black, Senate Locations: Georgia, Alabama

☆ Civil rights groups sue Tennessee over the state's GOP-drawn congressional and state Senate maps, calling the boundaries 'unconstitutional racial gerrymandering'
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-13 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Civil rights and voting rights groups have sued Tennessee over the state's congressional map. The GOP-drawn map led to the elimination of a heavily blue district in one of the state's Democratic centers. Bill Lee and several top election officials over the state's congressional and state Senate maps, arguing that the boundaries are unconstitutional and violate the rights of minority voters. Tennessee district maps must preserve the ability for voters to express their shared interests and elect the political representation of their choice." At the heart of the matter is the creation of three Republican-leaning congressional districts that include parts of Democratic-heavy Davidson County but which all elected GOP members of Congress.

Persons: Bill Lee, Debby Gould, mapmakers, Philip Randolph, Jim Cooper, Steve Cohen, Memphis Organizations: Tennessee, Democratic, Service, Tennessee Republican Gov, Republican, Court, Middle, Middle District of, GOP, League of Women Voters, of Women Voters, Tennessee State Conference of, NAACP, Equity Alliance, Memphis, Philip Randolph Institute, American, of Tennessee Locations: Wall, Silicon, Memphis, Nashville, Middle District, Middle District of Tennessee, , Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Davidson, exurban, Davidson County, Shelby County

☆ Utah G.O.P.’s Map Carved Up Salt Lake Democrats. Is It a Legal Matter?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Michael Wines | More About Michael Wines | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The 550,000 voters in Salt Lake County, Utah’s most populous, handed Joseph R. Biden Jr. an 11-percentage point victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 contest for president. On Tuesday, the Utah Supreme Court will consider whether to wade into the increasingly pitched nationwide battle over partisan gerrymanders. The justices will decide whether the state’s courts can hear a lawsuit challenging the House map, or whether partisan maps are a political issue beyond their jurisdiction. But voting rights advocates say Utah’s Constitution offers a stronger case than the federal one for reining in political maps. He said other relevant provisions in the State Constitution, but absent from the federal Constitution, include guarantees of free elections and the right to vote.

Persons: Joseph R, Biden, Donald Trump, ”, Mark Gaber Organizations: Republican, Utah Supreme, U.S, Supreme Locations: Salt Lake County, Utah’s, Utah, State, Washington

☆ Supreme Court Upholds State Courts’ Power to Prevent Gerrymanders
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Jess Bravin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-court-upholds-state-courts-power-to-prevent-gerrymanders-a3daf149

Persons: Dow Jones

☆ Supreme Court rules against Republicans in North Carolina elections dispute
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Lawrence Hurley | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The justices ruled on a 6-3 vote that the North Carolina Supreme Court was acting within its authority in concluding that the map constituted a partisan gerrymander under the state constitution. As a result of the North Carolina Supreme Court's ruling, that map is likely to tilt heavily toward Republicans. The North Carolina case was being closely watched for its potential impact on the 2024 presidential election. Republicans led by Tim Moore, the speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, invoked the theory after the state Supreme Court struck down the congressional district map in February of last year. Moore and other Republicans immediately asked the Supreme Court to reinstate the maps, saying the state court had overstepped its authority.

Persons: William Rehnquist, Gore, Republican George W, Bush's, Donald Trump, Tim Moore, Moore, John Eastman, Mike Pence, Joe Biden's, Biden's Organizations: Republicans, North Carolina, Democratic, Supreme, Republican, North Carolina House of, U.S, Democrats Locations: North Carolina, Bush, Carolina, —

☆ How to Police Gerrymanders? Some Judges Say the Courts Can’t.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Michael Wines | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON — Courts decide vexing legal matters and interpret opaque Constitutional language all the time, from defining pornography and judging whether a search or seizure is unreasonable to determining how speedy a speedy trial must be. And then there is the issue that some judges increasingly say is beyond their abilities to adjudicate. It was on display again last week, in North Carolina. The North Carolina Supreme Court said on Friday that it could find no way to determine when even egregious gerrymanders — in this case, lopsided partisan maps of the state’s General Assembly and its 14 congressional districts — cross the line between skewed but legal and unconstitutionally rigged. political dominance, even though the state’s electorate is split almost evenly between the two major parties.

☆ North Carolina Court, With New Partisan Mix, Reverses Itself on a Key Voting Case
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Michael Wines | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Barely a year after Democratic justices on the North Carolina Supreme Court said new maps of the state’s legislative and congressional districts were partisan gerrymanders that violated the State Constitution, a newly elected Republican majority on the court reversed course on Friday and said the court had no authority to overturn those maps. The practical effect is to enable the Republican-controlled State Legislature to scrap the court-ordered State Senate and congressional district. boundaries that were used in elections last November, and draw new maps skewed in their favor for elections in 2024. In an opinion divided 5 to 2 along party lines, the new Republican majority of justices said the court had no authority to strike down partisan maps that the state General Assembly had drawn. “Were this Court to create such a limitation, there is no judicially discoverable or manageable standard for adjudicating such claims.”

☆ Supreme Court signals it could sidestep ruling in major elections case
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Lawrence Hurley | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday sought additional briefings in a major elections case from North Carolina, signaling it could sidestep a ruling on a broad theory that could upend election law nationwide. The brief court order asked the parties involved to file new court papers on the impact of recent actions by the North Carolina Supreme Court. The case before the justices, argued in December, concerns whether the North Carolina Supreme Court had the authority last year to throw out Republican-drawn congressional districts. Since then, the North Carolina Supreme Court has flipped from Democratic to Republican control and the new majority has moved to revisit some of the earlier rulings. Oral arguments in the North Carolina court are scheduled for March 14.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear a major case that could upend election law as the justices consider whether to reinstate Republican-drawn congressional districts in North Carolina. The case, which could have a broad impact on an array of election issues, is being closely watched for its potential impact on the 2024 presidential election. Republicans led by Tim Moore, the Republican speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, invoked the theory after the state Supreme Court in February struck down the congressional district map. Activists protest partisan gerrymandering at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. on Mar. Moore and other Republicans immediately asked the Supreme Court to reinstate the maps, saying the state court had overstepped its authority.

☆ Supreme Court Weighs Blocking State Courts From Reviewing Congressional District Maps
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Jess Bravin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court on Wednesday considered stripping state courts of the power to review partisan gerrymanders for congressional districts, in a corollary to its 2019 decision foreclosing federal lawsuits over maps state lawmakers draw to entrench their party’s control of seats in the U.S. House. The case came from North Carolina, where the state Supreme Court applied free-elections and equal-protection provisions of the state constitution to invalidate a congressional map the Republican-controlled legislature drew in the expectation of producing GOP victories in 10 of the state’s 14 districts. The court-approved map used instead for November’s election resulted in seven seats apiece for Democrats and Republicans, roughly mirroring the state’s partisan makeup.

☆ Dispute over North Carolina congressional districts tees up major elections case at Supreme Court
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Lawrencehurley_Pic.Jpg | Lawrence Hurley | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +9 min

WASHINGTON — When the North Carolina Supreme Court struck down the Republican-drawn congressional district maps in February, Rep. Tim Moore, the Republican speaker of the state’s House of Representatives, reached for some potent ammunition. Moore said in an interview that he backed the theory because it is the only way to challenge a state court ruling that he believes was not based on law or precedent. Republicans, led by Moore, immediately asked the Supreme Court to reinstate the maps. Gary D. Robertson / AP fileThe independent state legislature theory claims state legislatures have the final say over election laws, potentially shielding their actions from state courts. He also said he believed that the governor had the power to veto elections legislation, a procedure cast into doubt by at least one interpretation of the independent state legislature theory.

☆ Alabama’s arguments in voting rights case are rooted in white supremacy
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-08 | by ( Bradley E. Heard | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Stripping away the right of communities of color to equal representation is just the latest effort by anti-voter politicians to destroy voting rights in America. Just 16 years ago, the Voting Rights Act was reauthorized unanimously by the Senate and signed into law by President George W. Bush. Now, politicians are showing that they do not want Black communities to have a fair voice in government by blocking any attempt to restore federal protections for voting rights, such as the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. This ongoing assault on voting rights calls for a renewal of the civil rights movement. We must stand against politicians who wish to strip away our democracy and threaten our voting rights.

Ron DeSantis overpowered his own Legislature to pass a map that adds an additional four GOP seats. Nationally, Republicans are likely to net three to four House seats from new maps alone — most of the five seats they need to regain the majority. There are 36 House Democrats not running for re-election, mostly because many opted to retire rather than risk serving in the wilderness of the minority. And there’s state Sen. Jen Kiggans, a nurse practitioner and former Navy pilot challenging Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria in Virginia Beach. MAGA primary takeoversIn a handful of races, Republicans have nominated hardcore pro-Trump candidates who could jeopardize their ability to win swing seats.

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