Gerrymandering/Redistricting

Over the past week, two proposals have been filed in the Illinois General Assembly to reform how district maps are drawn in Illinois.

In Evenwel, two plaintiffs from Texas scouted by Blum asked the Supreme Court to re-interpret fundamental principles of our democracy by drawing lines based on voters only, and making invisible millions of our family, friends, and neighbors who are not voters.

Today the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature passed LB 580, a bill that would create a nine-person independent citizens commission tasked with redrawing congressional and state legislative districts after each census.

The North Carolina legislature last month held a one-day special session to pass House Bill 2, a controversial measure blocking the City of Charlotte's anti-discrimination ordinance that was designed to protect members of the LGBT community.

Today the U.S. Supreme Court 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 numbers of eligible voters. Common Cause filed its own “friend of the court” brief in this case and organized a second brief signed by 19 counties and cities across the country.

Today the U.S. Supreme Court 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. The cities of Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, and Toledo joined 15 other counties and cities across the country to oppose this change.