#redistricting

#redistricting

The extensive record in these cases supports the District Court's conclusion that plaintiffs' [Section 2] claim was likely to succeed under Gingles. As to the first Gingles precondition, the District Court correctly found that black voters could constitute a majority in a second district that was "reasonably configured." The plaintiffs adduced eleven illustrative districting maps that Alabama could enact, at least one of which contained two majority-black districts that comported with traditional districting criteria.

Virginia's supreme court on Friday ruled that the state cannot use new congressional maps approved by voters to help Democrats gain as many as four new seats in the US House of Representatives, handing Republicans a major win ahead of November's midterm elections. The court found that the state's general assembly did not follow the appropriate constitutional procedure in approving the map, which voters then passed in a referendum last month. This constitutional violation incurably taints the resulting referendum vote and nullifies its legal efficacy, the court wrote in its decision.

Tennessee's Republican-dominated legislature passed redistricting maps on Thursday, eliminating the state's one Democratic, Black-majority congressional district as GOP lawmakers scramble to improve their fortunes ahead of the November midterms. The new map splits Shelby County, the home of Memphis, a majority-Black city that played a critical role in the civil rights movement, into three separate Republican-leaning districts. The majority-Black district being eliminated in the Memphis area has long been represented by Rep. Steve Cohen, the state's lone Democratic congressional representative.

"Someone [playing] warfare against Florida Republicans... you're gonna find out. He's like, 'Oh, if you do the redistricting thing, we're gonna take out all your members.' What I said was, 'Go ahead, make my day.'"