Gerrymandering/Redistricting

Today, Common Cause filed a motion in the U.S. Supreme Court in Common Cause v. Rucho urging the court to expedite its review of the case in order to provide relief to North Carolina voters in time for 2018 congressional elections. Last week the Supreme Court granted a stay in the case after a unanimous decision from a three-judge federal court had ruled North Carolina’s congressional districts unconstitutional and ordered them redrawn by January 24, 2018. In today’s brief the successful plaintiffs argue that hearing the North Carolina General Assembly’s appeal on a slower standard schedule will unfairly result in North Carolinians voting this November in congressional districts ruled to be an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. This would be a fourth congressional election cycle using an unconstitutional map.

It’s increasingly clear that courts across the country are ready to declare that partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional and insist that political maps that allow voters to choose our elected officials, not permit officials to choose their voters.

Today, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, ruled the state’s extreme partisan political gerrymander in violation of the state constitution and ordered districts redrawn by February 9, 2018. Common Cause helped to recruit the plaintiffs in the case and filed an amicus brief, which offered alternative constitutional maps, drawn by a panel of experts, that the legislature can utilize to meet the court deadline. Despite a roughly equal split in votes between the parties in each election since the 2011 redistricting, Republicans have consistently won 13 of the state’s 18 congressional seats.

Today the U.S. Supreme Court in Common Cause v. Rucho denied a stay request from North Carolina legislators ordered by a federal court to redraw the state’s unconstitutionally gerrymandered congressional districts by January 24, 2018. The stay was requested pending the Supreme Court’s ruling in two redistricting challenges before the Court.

Common Cause National Redistricting Manager Dan Vicuna discussed Common Cause’s sweeping court victory against gerrymandering in North Carolina on The Real News.

Every Pennsylvanian deserves a representative voice in Washington. Unfortunately our congressional delegation does not reflect the citizens of the Commonwealth because of the legislators who drew the maps for purely partisan gain.