The latest issue of Bloomberg Businessweek focuses attention on the legal fights surrounding electoral redistricting nationwide. The magazine version of the article (substantially different from this online piece) features the following line: “Lawsuits were filed in 42 states challenging borders drawn after the 2010 census, and courts agreed to review boundaries in 22 of them.”
The article also focuses some attention on North Carolina:
“This legislature went all out, and they wrote the worst redistricting plan we’ve seen since the 19th century,” says the Reverend William Barber, president of North Carolina’s NAACP chapter, who’s suing to remake the map in that state. The current boundaries, which have helped Republicans win four North Carolina congressional seats previously held by Democrats since they went into effect, have been upheld by multiple courts. “I’m not sure why they continue to press the issue,” says state Senator Bob Rucho, who oversaw the change. “We followed the letter of the law.”
The article also references the “Advantage 2020” initiative, launched last year by the national Democratic Party, “which is focused on winning statehouses before the next round of redistricting.”
And for those who believe redistricting reform will end the politicization of electoral redistricting, the article ends with a sobering assessment from Rick Hasen, professor of law and political science at the UC-Irvine law school:
“As long as there are somewhat murky legal standards, as there are in this area, and as long as people are politically active and motivated, we’re going to see disputes.”
