John,

Here are some updates from the last few days you may have missed.

U.S. Supreme Court Pauses Ruling Requiring New Alabama Congressional Map
Monday evening, the Supreme Court paused a district court ruling that held that Alabama’s new congressional map likely violates the Voting Rights Act. The district court had ordered the state to draw a new map with two majority-Black districts, a ruling Alabama appealed. Even though the Court didn’t rule on the merits of the case, this means the state’s new congressional map will be in effect for 2022.

Justice Kagan dissented from the order, joined by the Court's other liberal justices. She criticized the Court for siding with Alabama without full briefing or argument, arguing the decision “does a disservice to Black Alabamians who under that precedent have their electoral power diminished — in violation of a law this Court once knew to buttress all of American democracy.” Here’s more info about the Court’s order. [link removed]

Major Win for Fair Maps in North Carolina
After passing heavily gerrymandered maps last year, the Republican-controlled General Assembly in North Carolina was sued. Last month, the trial court in the cases held that, although the maps were clearly drawn to favor Republicans, partisan gerrymandering was nonjusticiable under the state constitution, meaning not suitable for courts to rule on. The ruling was immediately appealed to the state Supreme Court.

On Friday, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that partisan gerrymandering claims are justiciable and struck down the state’s congressional and legislative maps as partisan gerrymanders that violate the state constitution. The court ordered the General Assembly to redraw plans by Feb. 18 that “adhere to traditional neutral redistricting criteria and [do] not subordinate them to partisan criteria.” Read more about the ruling here. [link removed]

Republicans Sue Over New York’s New Congressional Map
Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed new congressional and legislative districts on Friday. Notably, the Legislature took over redistricting when the state’s bipartisan commission was unable to agree on any proposals. The new congressional map is expected to contain 20 Democratic seats, four Republican seats and two competitive seats.

A group of Republican voters filed a lawsuit hours later. They argue the Legislature did not follow the state constitution’s redistricting process and “is an obviously unconstitutional partisan and incumbent-protecting gerrymander.” They ask the court to order the Legislature to draw a new congressional plan. Check out the alert for more info. [link removed]

Courtroom Action Against Voter Suppression
On Thursday, a Montana state court permanently blocked portions of a new election law. The provisions banned political committees from engaging in voter registration and education activities on college campuses and required judges to recuse themselves from cases if a party or attorney before them donated to their campaign. The court agreed with the plaintiffs that these parts of the law violate the Montana Constitution’s “single subject rule” and that the law was improperly amended, meaning it was changed to such an extent it no longer reflected the bill’s original purpose. Read more here. [link removed]

Finally, on Friday the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) filed a lawsuit against multiple election practices in New York that lead to a high rejection rate of absentee ballots.The complaint alleges the state fails to provide an opportunity for voters to cure technical defects and improperly rejects ballots solely because a voter followed incorrect directions from election officials. Get the full details here. [link removed]


Can’t get enough news? You can always find more details about these updates on our Alerts page. [link removed]

Thanks for staying in the fight,
Team Democracy Docket






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