Your weekly source for analysis and insight from experts at the Brennan Center for Justice
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The Briefing
Every 10 years, states redraw their legislative and congressional maps. The process, which is now underway all across the country, is supposed to be fair and ensure equal representation for all. But too often the process is hijacked by political parties who draft unfair maps meant to consolidate their grip on political power — both in statehouses and Congress.
Partisan gerrymandering, as it’s known, disfigures our democracy by making elections uncompetitive and by diluting many communities’ political power, particularly communities of color. This month, the Ohio Redistricting Commission, on a 5–2 party line vote, gave us a master class in how to achieve a one-party state when it approved new legislative maps. That’s why the Brennan Center and co-counsel at Reed Smith filed a lawsuit yesterday to force the commission to redraw these maps.
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We’re representing the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, CAIR-Ohio, the Ohio Environmental Council, and numerous Ohio voters. We argue that the commission’s gerrymandered maps flagrantly violate numerous rights guaranteed by the Ohio Constitution and have asked the Ohio Supreme Court to order the commission to redraw these blatantly unfair district lines.
The partisan maps, which not one Democratic member of the commission approved, entrench a Republican supermajority in the Ohio General Assembly. But what makes this act of partisan gerrymandering so egregious is the sheer antidemocratic chutzpah of the state’s redistricting commission. In 2015, 7 out of 10 Ohio voters approved an amendment to the state constitution to encourage bipartisanship in the redistricting process and explicitly outlaw partisan gerrymandering. The amendment established a bipartisan redistricting commission that would draw fair state legislative maps that don’t “favor or disfavor a political party” and ensure that the composition of the legislature corresponds closely to the statewide preferences of Ohio voters.
The redistricting commission failed to even pursue bipartisan cooperation and completely ignored those clear fairness standards, and by doing so, drew maps that not only assure Republican veto-proof control of government but also particularly burden communities of color. The commission’s members did this by engaging in two tactics: cracking and packing. In some places, the district boundaries were drawn to split, or crack, Democratic voters into two separate districts to reduce their chances of winning these elections. In other places, the commission crammed, or packed, Democratic voters into a few districts to minimize the number of districts where the Democratic Party might win.
Not surprisingly, the commission cracked and packed many of Ohio’s Black and Muslim residents in gerrymandered districts, which would result in less representation in the state’s general assembly. One of our plaintiffs, Pierette Talley, explains: “If the maps remain in place, millions of Ohioans, particularly Black Ohioans and other people of color who live in these gerrymandered communities like Toledo, won’t have a voice in any policies impacting their lives that come out of the Columbus statehouse.”
America’s multiracial future is already here. Partisan gerrymandering, like the maps drawn by the Ohio Redistricting Commission, strangles it before we can make it a reality politically.
Ohio won’t be the last state to draw unfair maps. Watch this space: as more and more states draw their maps for the next decade, the Brennan Center will stay vigilant against partisan gerrymandering and discrimination.
Democracy
Partisan Arizona Election ‘Audit’ Was Flawed from the Start
Last Friday, the company Cyber Ninjas released its partisan political review of the 2020 presidential election in Maricopa County, Arizona. We’ve known for quite some time that this review failed to satisfy basic security, accuracy, and reliability measures. “Not surprisingly, the report has the patina of substance, but that quickly fades if one bothers to read it. Titles and headings seem engineered for superspreaders of disinformation to use out of context,” write Elizabeth Howard and Gowri Ramachandran. // Read More
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Breaking Down the Freedom to Vote Act
Congress is now considering the Freedom to Vote Act, essential legislation to strengthen and protect our democracy. The ills that it aims to address abound: State legislatures nationwide are pushing legislation to roll back voting rights and place election administration in the hands of partisans. Redistricting is under way in numerous states, along with attempts at partisan gerrymandering. And campaign spending is increasingly dominated by contributions from the wealthiest Americans at the expense of everyone else. Wendy Weiser and Daniel Weiner discuss the bill’s provisions and the path for it to become law. // Read More
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Constitution
Facebook’s Content Moderation Policies Need Transparency
The Wall Street Journal recently revealed that Facebook has a secret program to give special treatment to high-profile users who break its rules on everything from Covid-19 misinformation to harassment. And the company lied about it for years. “Content moderation is complicated and hard, but without reliable information, policymakers and researchers cannot propose meaningful regulation or solutions,” writes Laura Hecht-Felella. “Transparency must have the force of law and should extend beyond Facebook to all social media platforms.” // Read More
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Justice
Addressing Violent Crime More Effectively
Violent crime is on the rise in American cities, as are old “tough-on-crime” policies that have only fueled mass incarceration without making cities safer. In the latest essay for our Punitive Excess series
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, David Alan Sklansky, a Stanford Law School professor and co-director of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center, argues against retribution in strategies for addressing violent crime. Instead, he encourages policymakers to take a more holistic look. “Our laws increasingly assume that the roots of violence are in the hearts and minds of offenders, not in the situations in which they find themselves. We tend to neglect the powerful social drivers of violence: from poverty and racism to the wide availability of guns in the United States,” he writes. // Read More
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Coming Up
VIRTUAL EVENT: Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Enduring Message to America
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Wednesday, October 6 // 7–8 p.m. ET, 6–7 p.m. CT
Join Keisha N. Blain in conversation with Donna Brazile for the launch of Blain’s new book, Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer's Enduring Message to America
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Hamer, who came to political activism in mid-life after a forced sterilization, was a relentless advocate for voting rights for Black Americans and against white supremacy. Award-winning historian and New York Times bestselling author Blain shines a light on Hamer’s life, ideas, and political strategies, situating her as a key political thinker of the civil rights movement, alongside Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, John Lewis, and Rosa Parks. RSVP today.
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Produced in partnership with the National Civil Rights Museum
VIRTUAL EVENT: Midnight in Washington: A Conversation with Rep. Adam Schiff
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Wednesday, November 10 // 6–7 p.m. ET
The congressman who led the first impeachment of Donald Trump offers an inside account of American democracy in its darkest hour — and a warning that the forces of autocracy released by Trump remain as potent as ever. In his new book, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) argues that the Trump presidency has so weakened our institutions and compromised the Republican Party that the peril will last for years. RSVP today.
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News
Ames Grawert on parole reform // Bloomberg
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Elizabeth Howard on the partisan election review in Arizona // NBC News
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Michael Li on partisan redistricting efforts in Texas // Washington Post
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Eliza Sweren-Becker on the national wave of voter suppression laws // AZCENTRAL
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Have an issue you'd like us to cover? Feedback on this newsletter? Email us at
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The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law is a nonpartisan law and policy institute that works to reform, revitalize – and when necessary defend – our country’s systems of democracy and justice.
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