Plaintiffs in Allen file objections to Alabama’s noncompliant congressional maps.
Daily Docket — Monday, July 31
Here’s what to expect in the courts this month.
Redistricting is on the docket in the South this month, from Galveston County, Texas to Alabama, Florida and South Carolina. To prepare you for the month ahead, we’ve outlined what courtroom activity and fillings we anticipate as well as what outstanding decisions we are watching for.
Here are key dates and case developments coming up.
* Aug. 4, 2023: Hearing in a state-level lawsuit ([link removed]) challenging Florida’s congressional map for violating the Florida Constitution by diminishing the ability of Black Floridians to elect their candidates of choice and intentionally favoring the Republican Party.
* Aug. 7, 2023: Trial in a consolidated federal lawsuit ([link removed]) challenging the districts for Galveston County, Texas’ Commissioners Court, the county’s legislative body. The plaintiffs allege that the redistricting plan violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) by denying Black and Latino voters the opportunity to elect their candidates of choice.
* Aug. 9, 2023: Hearing in a federal lawsuit ([link removed]) challenging Idaho law House Bill 124 ([link removed]) , a newly enacted voter suppression law that eliminates the use of a student ID as an acceptable form of identification for in-person voting.
* Aug. 11, 2023: The pro-voting party’s brief is due in a case ([link removed]) challenging South Carolina’s congressional map for being an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The case is currently pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
* Aug. 14, 2023: Hearing in federal court ([link removed]) over the new congressional map ([link removed]) passed by the Republican-controlled Alabama Legislature. The enacted map only has one majority-Black district, but a federal court ordered ([link removed]) that the map must have two.
* Aug. 18. 2023: Hearing in a lawsuit ([link removed]) challenging Washington State’s use of signature matching for mail-in ballots.
* Aug. 21, 2023: In addition to the Aug. 4 hearing, there is a trial scheduled in the state-level lawsuit ([link removed]) challenging Florida’s congressional map.
* Aug. 22, 2023: Hearing in a federal lawsuit ([link removed]) challenging Florida’s congressional map for intentionally discriminating against Black voters in violation of the 14th and 15th Amendments.
* Aug. 24, 2023: Hearing in a lawsuit ([link removed]) filed against right-wing activists and organizations — including Dinesh D’Souza, True the Vote and its leaders and others — alleging that the defendants falsely accused the plaintiff of “ballot fraud” in their film and accompanying book “2000 Mules.”
* Aug. 24, 2023: Hearing in lawsuit ([link removed]) brought by a conservative group challenging a set of recently enacted Minnesota laws that restore voting rights to over 50,000 Minnesotans who were on parole, probation or community release due to a felony conviction.
* Aug. 28, 2023: Hearing in a lawsuit ([link removed]) challenging guidance from the Wisconsin Elections Commission that allows voters to ask election officials to spoil their absentee ballots and permits voters to request a new absentee ballot if they make a mistake or opt to vote in person instead.
We are waiting for decisions in the following lawsuits.
* A lawsuit ([link removed]) that will determine whether the white, conservative chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court can appoint unelected judges in Jackson (the state’s majority-Black capital) under a recently enacted, anti-democratic law, House Bill 1020 ([link removed]) .
* A lawsuit ([link removed]) challenging Tennessee’s legislative maps. The lawsuit alleges that Republicans created the legislative districts “to ensure maximum partisan advantage for the incumbent Republican supermajority” and they should be blocked and replaced with legal maps
* A lawsuit ([link removed]) that will determine whether parts of Georgia’s omnibus voter suppression law will be temporarily blocked.
* A lawsuit ([link removed]) challenging Arkansas’ legislative maps that will dictate whether private plaintiffs — and not just the U.S. Department of Justice — have the right to bring lawsuits ([link removed]) under Section 2 of the VRA.
As always, keep an eye on our Cases page ([link removed]) for real-time updates on any developments in these lawsuits and others.
Here are some courtroom updates you may have missed.
* A federal court blocked ([link removed]) Miami, Florida's new city commission map, ruling that the districts are still racially gerrymandered. Miami was ordered to redraw the map in May after it was initially struck down for violating the 14th Amendment.
* Plaintiffs in Allen v. Milligan ([link removed]) filed objections to Alabama's new congressional districts, arguing that the state is in "open defiance" of court orders and that the map "perpetuates the Voting Rights Act violation" that a lower court previously found and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld.
* Republicans filed ([link removed]) a lawsuit asking the Ohio Supreme Court to block a pro-choice abortion amendment from appearing on the ballot in November.
* A trial has been set ([link removed]) for Sept. 27 in a Republican lawsuit arguing that New Mexico's congressional map is gerrymandered to unfairly benefit Democrats.
* The trial in Fair Fight v. True the Vote ([link removed]) has been moved to Oct. 26. Fair Fight has sued True the Vote, arguing that the right-wing Texas-based group illegally intimidated Georgia voters in the run-up to the 2021 U.S. Senate runoffs.
Can’t get enough news? You can always find more details about these updates on our News Alerts page ([link removed]) .
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