Gerrymandering/Redistricting

Common Cause today filed a motion to affirm Common Cause v. Rucho, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to agree with a trial court ruling that North Carolina’s congressional map is an illegal partisan gerrymander. If the 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.  

Today, Common Cause released a new report on more than two dozen ballot initiatives and state constitutional amendments to strengthen, and in some cases undercut, democracy that will be decided by voters at the state and local level in November. “Democracy on the Ballot” traces the growing momentum behind citizen-driven pro-democracy reforms in recent years and examines initiatives and amendments on ballots in the 2018 general election from Florida to California and from North Dakota to New Mexico and urges support or opposition to each.

“I think that there is a very strong reaction to people feeling like this process is closed, it’s secretive and it is intentionally so because there are partisan shenanigans going on where one party or a set of incumbents are trying to manipulate the lines,” said Kathay  Feng, national redistricting director of Common Cause.

As Common Cause takes its quest to end partisan gerrymandering to the U.S. Supreme Court in Common Cause v. Rucho, it is also promoting a toolkit for courts and advocates to determine whether partisan gerrymandering has effectively taken away voters’ voices. A new and important tool, a “Swiss Army knife” paper written by Princeton University neuroscientist Samuel S. Wang and his team, pulls together several different legal and math approaches and explains how they all work together. Today he is named the winner of Common Cause’s third Partisan Gerrymandering Writing Competition.

The voters of Missouri prevailed today in their fight to reform the legislature, including the improving the redistricting process and limiting gifts from lobbyists. The Court of Appeals reversed the trial court and ruled that Amendment 1, the Clean Missouri-supported constitutional amendment to make government more responsive to the people, could appear on the November ballot. Common Cause filed an amicus brief in this case arguing that Amendment 1 contains commonsense and nonpartisan good government reforms that the people of Missouri should have the opportunity to vote on in November.

KANSAS CITY, MO, September 18, 2018:  As a crucial part of Common Cause’s fight against partisan gerrymandering, Common Cause weighed in on Missouri’s fight to reform the legislature, including the redistricting process and limiting gifts from lobbyists. Common Cause and three Republican current and former state senators filed an amicus brief in the Western District Court of Appeals of Missouri in support of Amendment 1, the Clean Missouri-supported constitutional amendment to make government more responsive to the people. The brief argues that Amendment 1 contains commonsense and nonpartisan good government reforms that the people of Missouri should have the opportunity to vote on in November.