Gerrymandering/Redistricting

"Gerrymandering is an abuse of power no matter who does it, and both Democrats and Republicans use it for their political gain," said Kathay Feng, national redistricting director for the Common Cause advocacy group.

"We see strong support for these initiatives from independents, Democrats and Republicans," said Karen Hobert Flynn, president of Common Cause. "The question is whether incumbent officials will wake up to understand that people really do want democracy and that power belongs to the people."

“The court clearly sided with voters today by declaring that an unconstitutional, partisan gerrymander in Maryland squashed political participation and speech,” said Kathay Feng, the national redistricting director for Common Cause. “Gerrymandering is an abuse of power no matter who does it, and both Democrats and Republicans use it for their political gain.”

“In California, we had a system where politicians went behind closed doors and decided where the lines were drawn and ended up hurting communities — communities of color, women interested in running, people in the way of an incumbent,” said Kathay Feng, national redistricting director of Common Cause, noting the issue was long seen as “an insider game, that no one was paying attention to, and we were told that it’s so complicated and regular people can’t understand it. But that’s not true.”

If the U.S. Supreme Court decides to hear Common Cause v. Rucho, it could result in the first ever decision by the high court stating that partisan gerrymandering violates the U.S. Constitution.