Gerrymandering/Redistricting

The national drive for redistricting reform continues to gain momentum.

Justice Samuel Alito has declined to stay a Pennsylvania Supreme Court order requiring the state to end gerrymandering of congressional districts

Today the United State Supreme Court denied the request in League of Women Voters vs Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for a stay of an order by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, that the legislature redraw congressional district lines because they violated the state constitution.

Today, Common Cause joined an ideologically diverse group of governors, members of Congress, local government leaders, and others in filing amicus briefs urging the Supreme Court to put an end to partisan gerrymandering. On March 28, the Court will hear arguments in Benisek v. Lamone, a First Amendment challenge to Maryland’s Sixth Congressional District, which Democrats drew after the 2010 census in a successful attempt to defeat a longtime Republican incumbent. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the plaintiffs, it could result in a nationwide prohibition against the manipulation of legislative boundaries for political advantage.

Common Cause and other groups that have been fighting for years on behalf of fairly-drawn congressional and legislative districts finally have the wind at our backs.

Common Cause is inviting the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve questions about the constitutionality of partisan gerrymandering once and for all.