Free Republic

Moore v. Harper focuses on a new North Carolina voting map created by court-appointed experts after earlier maps proposed by the Republican-led state legislature were struck down. The North Carolina Supreme Court in February ruled that the maps offered by the state general assembly were partisan gerrymanders, violating free speech, free assembly and equal protection provisions of the state constitution. But the state legislature appealed that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has agreed to take up the issue of redistricting and possibly restore the Republican-drawn map. Central to the petitioners' argument is the so-called "inde­pend­ent state legis­lature" theory...

The U.S. Supreme Court has put a temporary hold on a lower court's order for the creation of a second majority Black congressional district in Louisiana.

The Supreme Court may very well take up a case that would prevent Democrat judges from invalidating Republican state legislators who dominate state houses from redrawing congressional districts. It takes four justices of the Supreme Court to agree for a case to be heard by the entire Court; Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh have said they are willing to hear the case. “Activist judges and allied plaintiffs have proved time and time again that they believe state courts have the ultimate say over congressional maps, no matter what the U.S. Constitution says,” North Carolina Senate leader...

New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu (R) on Thursday promised to veto another redistricting map proposed by the Republican legislature. “The citizens of New Hampshire will not accept this map, which moves both members of Congress into the same district. Our races have to be fair, which is why I will veto this map,” the governor claimed.

TOPEKA (KSNT) – The Kansas Supreme Court announced this morning its decisions in cases that involve state and congressional reapportioned districts around 10:30 a.m. In a decision on Wednesday by the Kansas Supreme Court, the redrawn redistricting maps are upheld as constitutional. The state Supreme Court declined to declare that overly partisan gerrymandering violates the Kansas Constitution. The ruling sets district boundaries less than a month before the state’s June 10 filing deadline for congressional candidates. The state’s Republican-appointed solicitor general argued in defending the GOP-drawn map that because the state constitution doesn’t specifically mention gerrymandering or congressional redistricting, the...

A congressional map approved by Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and drawn by his staff is unconstitutional because it breaks up a district where Black voters can choose their representatives, a state judge said Wednesday. Leon County Circuit Judge Layne Smith said he would issue a formal order Thursday or Friday to keep the maps from taking effect in November’s election.

The congressional redistricting wars are mostly over. Much of the hoopla surrounding it is proving overheated. Before looking at this cycle's results, a primer on the subject is in order. The first and most important point is that the requirement that districts have equal populations seriously limits the effects of partisan redistricting. That requirement seems to have been on the minds of the framers of the Constitution. The framers mandated a federal census to be conducted every 10 years to determine the apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives based on population. Ours was, I believe, the first regularly...

Democrats say the map will cut the number of Black Representations in Florida in half. The Legislature has approved a controversial congressional map from Gov. Ron DeSantis, set to take effect ahead of the 2022 midterms unless a court quickly decides otherwise. The cartography (P 0109), which creates 20 Republican-leaning seats and eight Democratic seats, will next head to the Governor for his signature. Once he approves the map, Florida comes off a list of just three states that have yet to complete their redistricting process. The House on Thursday picked up the reapportionment bill passed the prior day by...

Screaming’ Florida Democrat lawmakers on Tuesday shut down the state House in protest of Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) redistricting map. The radical and rowdy lawmakers stood in the middle of the House floor and sang, “We shall overcome.” They also chanted slogans like “we will occupy this floor” and “black votes are under attack” to prevent the maps from passing the House. The map passed the Senate on Wednesday. If the map passes the House on Thursday, DeSantis will sign it into law.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday adopted Republican-drawn maps for the state Legislature, handing the GOP a victory just weeks after initially approving maps drawn by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

Going strongly counter to the prevailing narrative, Nate Silver predicts that the Democrats will INCREASE their House majority in November. Key findings: Although Republicans went into the redistricting cycle with control over drawing more districts, it is actually Democrats who have gained ground from the process. So far, redistricting has created 10 more Democratic-leaning seats nationally, six fewer Republican-leaning seats and five fewer highly competitive seats. After accounting for incumbency, however, Democrats’ gains should be smaller: Democrats will likely flip between one and four seats in 2022 due to redistricting. In addition, Republicans have helped their own cause by converting...

The Cook Political Report has lowered the number of seats Democrats are projected to gain from redistricting in the wake of major court decisions in two states. “Owing to court decisions in Maryland & Ohio, Democrats are now on track to net 1-2 House seats nationally from redistricting alone,” Cook Political Report senior editor David Wasserman tweeted Tuesday. The Cook Political Report previously estimated that Democrats would net four to five seats in Congress. The new, downgraded estimate is a sign that Republicans are posed to do better than expected in the redistricting battle. The stunning development comes after a...

On March 25, a state trial court in Maryland issued an opinion in Szeliga v Lamone, Anne Arundel Circuit Court, C-02-cv-21-1816. This is the case that argues that the U.S. House district boundaries constitute an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. The 94-page ruling invalidates the districts, and finds that the Maryland State Constitution prohibits partisan gerrymanders. Here is the opinion. Thanks to Bob Johnston for the link. The primaries are July 19.

Republicans were down a touchdown with one play left and half the field to go in Wisconsin regarding redistricting for the state legislature, but thanks to a shocker of a decision from the Supreme Court, overtime has just been forced.Previously, Wisconsin’s highest court had decided to use maps drawn by the Democrat governor after a months-long battle with Republican lawmakers. In doing so, the process hurdled past several legal issues that the Supreme Court decided were improperly ignored. Yet, the bigger story here isn’t actually about Wisconsin, and we’ll get to that in a moment.As expected, the wailing and gnashing...

His commission’s work vindicated hours earlier by judges of the state’s highest court on both sides of the aisle, University of Pittsburgh chancellor emeritus Mark Nordenberg said Wednesday evening that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s unanimous decision to uphold the newly drawn state legislative maps — the work of his reapportionment commission — made for a “very satisfying moment.” In an exclusive interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Mr. Nordenberg, chair of the Legislative Reapportionment Commission, said after an “intense and grueling process” that included 10 months of work and a touch of partisan fury over the results, he hopes his commission’s...

As the GOP seems to think they have the next election in the bag, Obama & Holder – with corrupt attorney Marc Elias – are gaining ground with All On The Line. Through their organization All On The Line (AOTL) (formerly “Obama for America”), former President Barack Obama and his wingman, former Attorney General Eric Holder have aggressively targeted certain key states with strategic litigation wherever they believe Republicans hold an advantage in their electoral maps. A key point is that Obama/Holder are targeting “gerrymandering”, or the redrawing of electoral maps to give an advantage to a certain political party....

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Republicans asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to block a congressional redistricting plan that state judges drew this week, initiating a last-ditch effort to derail a map that likely would give Democrats another seat on Capitol Hill in 2023. GOP legislative leaders argue that the boundaries — which replaced a map that the legislature approved earlier this month — violate the U.S. Constitution. Candidate filing under the map began Thursday and continues through next week. Since the Constitution allows state lawmakers to determine the manner of U.S. House elections, the panel of three...

Donald Trump Jr. exclusively told Breitbart News on Thursday he holds Chris Christie responsible for leading a “totally pathetic” redistricting effort as the co-chair of the National Republican Redistricting Trust (NRRT). “As co-chair of the National Republican Redistricting Trust, Chris Christie was tasked with overseeing the redistricting process for the Republican Party and has been a complete failure in the role,” Donald Trump Jr. told Breitbart News about the GOP’s overall performance.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — Franklin Circuit Court Judge Thomas D. Wingate has denied a motion to temporarily block Kentucky's redistricting maps. Wingate also denied a motion from Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams to have the case dismissed. ... In the lawsuit, Democrats claim both new maps involve partisan gerrymandering, which violates the state constitution. The suit also challenges the "excessively and unnecessarily splitting counties." ... Governor Andy Beshear initially vetoed the Republicans' redistricting plans, but the GOP used their legislative power to override the veto.

Republicans in the Florida House and Senate have proposed a map that would largely preserve the political status quo, while DeSantis wants to boost prospects for congressional Republicans. Gov. Ron DeSantis is barreling toward an unusual showdown with Florida Republicans in a redistricting fight that centers on a largely Black congressional district. Despite controlling both the Legislature and the Governor’s Mansion, Republicans are at odds over how Florida’s 28 congressional districts should look over the next decade. The intra-party debate is focused on the 5th Congressional District — which is about 46 percent Black — which DeSantis wants to divide...