02/25/2022

John,

44 members of the Congressional Black Caucus recently wrote a letter urging the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) to increase efforts to protect voting rights in court. The letter was unsparing in its call to action.

Last week, the elected leadership of Harris County, Texas — the largest, most diverse and Democratic county in the state — wrote their own letter to the DOJ.

In my latest article, I explain the growing divide over the most effective way to combat voter suppression. These statements, and the sentiment of frustration behind them, illustrate one path forward: demand more litigation to fight for the right to vote.

The authors understand that the consequences of losing cases could mean bad precedent in the future. But they see the threat to voting rights today as justifying that risk.

Read “No Lawsuit Is Too Trivial, No Action Is Too Small” on Democracy Docket now.

Let’s keep up the fight,
Marc

An Assault on Democracy Abroad

Understandably, all eyes were on Eastern Europe this week. We’re closely following the developments in Ukraine after Russia attacked the nation. “Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war,” said President Joe Biden in his remarks yesterday.

With everything going on, we don’t have any update on Electoral Count Act reform talks, but Florida Sen. Rick Scott (R) released an 11 Point Plan, which included a range of nonsensical, but harmful priorities. In his capacity as the Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the plan would be laughable if not so threatening to democracy and representative of what has become the mainstream Republican party.

Under one of the subsections, Scott outlines a host of new voting restrictions. As Marc pointed out, by prohibiting ballots that show up after Election Day from being counted, Scott would severely limit the opportunities for members of the military and other Americans abroad to vote.

February Redistricting Roundup

With Louisiana finally moving new maps forward, every state has begun the redistricting process. Since our last roundup, ten more states have finished approving maps for the next decade. North Carolina and Alaska have joined Ohio in having their maps overturned by a court. Read our latest update of where redistricting stands as the battle begins shifting from the statehouse to the courtroom. You can find most current updates in a few states below.

After this week’s developments, we are waiting for only six more states to finalize their congressional maps: Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio and Wisconsin — the countdown continues!

Courts Select Maps in Pennsylvania and North Carolina

There was a flurry of activity this past Wednesday afternoon as courts in Pennsylvania and North Carolina adopted new maps in quick succession. In Pennsylvania, the state court system took over congressional redistricting after Gov. Tom Wolf (D) vetoed a map passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature. The state Supreme Court weighed multiple map proposals put forth by involved parties and ultimately adopted a map that is predicted to create six Democratic-leaning seats, eight Republican-leaning seats and three competitive seats.

• Pennsylvania Republicans fighting Pennsylvania’s impasse process in federal court were not pleased by this development. After the new congressional map was adopted, the plaintiffs in Toth Jr. v. Chapman filed a notice that, if the federal district court did not block the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s order by midnight on Wednesday, they would go to the U.S. Supreme Court. We’re keeping an eye on any developments.

In North Carolina, a three-judge panel of a state trial court, with the assistance of three special masters, adopted new maps. The panel selected the remedial state House and Senate plans passed by the General Assembly, but did not adopt the General Assembly’s remedial congressional map. Even with modifications, the court held that the congressional map did not meet statistical standards for partisan fairness and “the partisan skew … is not explained by the political geography of North Carolina.” Instead, the court adopted an interim proposal created by the special masters, which will only be used for the 2022 election cycle.

Four appeals were quickly filed, in no particular order:

• Republican state lawmakers appealed the congressional map.
• The North Carolina League of Conservation Voters and Harper plaintiffs appealed the state Senate map.
• The Common Cause plaintiffs appealed both the state House and Senate maps.

Later that evening, the North Carolina Supreme Court rejected all four appeals. The maps adopted by the trial court will go into effect and candidate filing will resume for May primary elections. You can find all the case documents here.

Meanwhile, the members of the Ohio Redistricting Commission were busy explaining to the state Supreme Court why they should not be held in contempt. The Commission reached an impasse last week when it failed to agree on new legislative districts, which would have been the third redraw. The following day, Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor ordered the Commission to show cause for why its members should not be held in contempt for failure to comply with the court’s order. How did the Commissioners, which includes Republican legislative leaders and Gov. Mike DeWine (R), among others, respond? Find out here.

• After playing a bit of a blame game with their statements, the respondents are all called to appear in court next Tuesday. We’ll be watching.

AND MORE:

• In a Republican lawsuit challenging the state's new congressional map, a Maryland judge allowed all but one claim to move forward. A trial has been set for mid-March.


• Democratic voters filed a lawsuit challenging Tennessee's new state House and Senate maps. The lawsuit claims that the maps were drawn to maximize partisan advantage for Republicans and violate the state constitution.

A Tale of Two Ballot Initiatives

Here’s the full story of what’s happening in Nevada, with two proposed ballot initiatives already challenged in court. Read more ➡️

What's the path forward for redistricting maps in Ohio?

The Ohio Supreme Court, on its own accord, has called the Ohio Redistricting Commission to appear in court next Tuesday and may hold them in contempt for failing to comply with the court order. I’ll be following these developments closely. It's not that hard to draw legal maps under the Ohio Constitution, but Republican politicians simply don't want to follow the law.

What are your top concerns with redistricting moving forward?

The calendar. The general election will be Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022 no matter what and federal law requires absentee ballots to be sent to overseas and military voters 45 days in advance of the election. You can't move those dates. In states like Ohio, I think you see Republicans trying to outwait the courts, so everything is urgent right now.

Thanks to John and Stewart for asking questions this week – feel free to ask your own here or join today’s Twitter Spaces at 2 p.m. to ask Marc directly.

As we watch a brazen invasion unfold across the world, we’re finding ways to help — the Independent gathered a list of credible organizations supporting Ukrainians here.

As February comes to a close, we’re attending the online webinar "Is This the Last Black History Month?” The outstanding panel — Kimberlé Crenshaw, Cornel West, Sherrilyn Ifill and Jelani Cobb — will probe into current efforts to conceal the reality of Black history.

The attack on civil rights laws has been led, in part, by Justice Clarence Thomas. This week, the New York Times Magazine released an investigation into the political activism of his wife, Ginni Thomas, who championed overturning the results of the 2020 election, among other conservative causes that have come before the Court.