Archive for the ‘ELECT Blog Archives’ Category
Firm News, ELECT Blog Archives
Do We Live in a Healthy Democracy?
Recently, the Center for American Progress Action Fund (“Center”) issued a report entitled, The Health of State Democracies.[1] The Center essentially is a think tank that has policy teams in major issues areas and issues reports on these various topics to attempt to shape the debate.[2] The report “aims to take a broader approach to […]
ELECT Blog Archives
Florida Supreme Court: Redistricting Map Violates Florida Constitution
In League of Women Voters v. Detzner, No. SC14-1905, 2015 WL 4130852 (Fla. July 9, 2015), plaintiffs challenged the Florida legislature’s 2012 congressional redistricting plan, alleging that it violated the Florida Constitution. Specifically, in 2010, the Florida Constitution was amended by the Fair Districts Amendment (“FDA”), which prohibited the Florida legislature from drawing a redistricting […]
ELECT Blog Archives
Redistricting 101: Suing the Correct Parties – Eleventh Amendment
A key issue in a redistricting case is whether the plaintiff has sued the correct parties. This was an issue in a recent Fourth Circuit case, Wright v. North Carolina, 787 F.3d 256 (4th Cir. 2015). In Wright, plaintiffs, a group of thirteen North Carolina residents, brought a section 1983 action against the state and […]
ELECT Blog Archives
United States Supreme Court: Independent Commissions Can Draw Electoral District Lines
In 2000, Arizona voters adopted an initiative that amended the Arizona Constitution, removing redistricting authority from the state legislature and vesting that authority in an independent commission. The Arizona legislature sued the commission seeking a declaration that the commission and its congressional districting map violated the Election Clause of the United States Constitution. According to […]