Ngày nay Tòa án Tối cao Hoa Kỳ voted 8-0 in Evenwel v. Abbott to allow states to continue to count total population when drawing state legislative districts after each census. The plaintiffs sought an unprecedented change to the U.S. Constitution forbidding states from using census counts of total population and requiring them to draw districts with equal number of voters. Cook County and the City of Chicago joined 17 other counties and cities across the country in a brief Common Cause organized to oppose this change.

“Today, the Supreme Court upheld a fundamental constitutional value that every person counts,” said Kathay Feng, national redistricting director at Common Cause.  “We now turn our attention to the states to monitor any efforts to deprive millions of young people, residents, and other non-voters of those constitutional protections. As a representative democracy, our country was built on the bedrock principle that we elect legislators to represent We the People – everyone who lives within a district is a constituent, not just those who vote.”

“Common Cause joined cities and counties across the country from Los Angeles to Chicago to Atlanta to argue that everyone – young, old, city-dwellers and small town residents – deserves equal representation when it comes to providing police, fire, schools, and other services,” said Brian Gladstein, executive director of Common Cause Illinois. “We don’t deny a child police protection because they are not registered to vote, so why would we deny fair representation in the General Assembly based on who is registered and who is not?”