The U.S. Supreme Court has opted out of messing with Texas, at least for now. In a unanimous, unsigned decision, the judges avoided a variety of thorny legal questions, vaguely asking for revisions to a redistricting map drawn by a panel of judges in San Antonio. At stake is the likely party alignment of four new congressional seats that were awarded to Texas after the 2010 census revealed significant, minority-driven population growth in the state. The Republican-controlled Texas state Legislature’s map all but ensured at least three of those new seats would be safely Republican, ... Read More
Supreme Court Messes With Texas, Voting Rights
January 9, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment
“Don’t mess with Texas” — this time, the U.S. Supreme Court should have listened. The court has injected itself into a 10-gallon disaster that grows messier with every passing day. Today, the court hears arguments. If only it could slowly back out of the room. The problem arises (again) from a Texas redistricting plan. Last cycle, Texas re-redrew a federal court’s lines, causing Democrats to twice flee the state to gut a legislative quorum. This caused then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to set federal law enforcement on their tail, which in turn earned Mr. DeLay a formal ... Read More
Website Demystifies Redistricting
July 9, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
The once-a-decade reshuffling mandated by the Constitution now has a comprehensive source that helps to explain its complex details. Justin Levitt, an expert on election law and a professor at Los Angeles’ Loyola Law School has launched All About Redistricting, an interactive website that helps the average person understand all the intricacies of redistricting. With redistricting being a hot topic, and its fairness routinely questioned, the launch of Levitt’s website is particularly timely. The site offers a state-by-state guide that explains individual rules, regulations and ... Read More
Do Gerrymanders Come in Shades of Red and Blue?
February 23, 2010 • By • 1 Comment
The type of redistricting reform Miller-McCune examines in its March-April issue is founded on a pair of premises — that citizens would be better off wresting control of the highly political process from the politicians who manipulate it for their own gain, and that, in doing so, we might cut down on the partisanship in government. The first sentiment seems like common sense, and may be reason enough all by itself to adopt reforms nationwide that would give independent commissions the right to redraw congressional and legislative boundaries every 10 years. The second, from the point of ... Read More
Can California Redistricting Reform Change Congress?
February 19, 2010 • By • 3 Comments
If I taught journalism, the final project would have students write an article about municipal bonds. The assignment would be a reality check: As a profession, journalism is so difficult nowadays that only those young people who have the drive and style needed to accurately enliven the second-most boring subject in the news universe — municipal finance — have any chance of a significant career. If you can make bond covenants sing, you might earn a journalistic living in an age when people dislike paying for news, and countless millions of blockheads write for no money. But even I have ... Read More
