Gerrymandering/Redistricting

The Kennedy School of Government’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University announced today that California’s Citizens Redistricting Commission (CRC) is the winner of the 2017 Roy and Lila Ash Innovation Award for Public Engagement in Government.

The U.S. Supreme Court announced this morning that it will hear oral arguments in Gill v. Whitford, an appeal of a three-judge federal trial court decision that Wisconsin State Assembly districts are an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.

The U.S. Supreme Court announced this morning that it will hear oral arguments in Gill v. Whitford, an appeal of a three-judge federal trial court decision that Wisconsin State Assembly districts are an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.

The Supreme Court agreed this morning to take a new look at partisan gerrymandering, accepting a Wisconsin case in which a three-judge lower court ruled that Republican state legislators unfairly drew congressional districts that work to elect GOP candidates.

The Supreme Court's decision this morning to hear Gill v. Whitford is good news for the millions of Americans currently being denied the right to elect representatives of their choosing thanks to partisan gerrymandering. By upholding the decision of a three-judge federal panel that the Wisconsin State Assembly map legislators approved following the 2010 census is an illegal partisan gerrymander the Court can end the excessive partisan manipulation of district lines across the country. Common Cause v. Rucho, a challenge to North Carolina's congressional map on partisan grounds, is also making its way through the courts and will be heard by a three-judge panel on June 26.

The Public Interest Law Center filed a lawsuit in state court today on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania and individual voters challenging the state’s congressional districts as an illegal partisan gerrymander. League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is one of a series of suits nationwide challenging extreme partisan gerrymanders that have left millions of Americans with no opportunity to elect the candidates of their choice. Plaintiffs in the Pennsylvania suit argue that the state’s congressional map violates the Pennsylvania Constitution. Common Cause Pennsylvania, a leader in the Fair Districts PA coalition, played a key role in the recruitment of several individual plaintiffs. An individual plaintiff lives in each of the state’s 18 congressional districts.