[EL] Earliest date for redistricting suits

Sat Apr 7 14:32:20 PDT 2012

In response to Ed Still's question regarding litigation related to 2013
redistricting, there is a 2011 NY Court of Appeals decision deciding the
question whether Nassau County, NY must redistrict twice in a decade. In
Yatauro v Mangano, the Court of Appeals held that Nassau County must
redistrict the county legislature in time for 2013 elections and that a
quirky part of the County Charter does not require an early redistricting
(for 2011 elections) but only enactment of a local law showing changes to
the legislature based on new census data.

The County Charter was created in 1994. The Charter Commission could not
agree on the method for redistricting and left it to be decided later. The
outgoing County Board of Supervisors (earlier invalidated in Jackson v.
Board of Supervisors for equal protection violations), added a section
creating a redistricting advisory board and final approval or amendment for
future county legislative redistrictings by the new county legislature.

During the 2000s, the county  legislature redistricted only once (but did
pass a local law showing census changes to the 1994 plan). In 2011, in what
was seen as a partisan move, the County Legislature attempted to redistrict
two years too early in order to have a new plan in place for 2011
elections. The State Court of Appeals rejected the early redistricting.

See Diane Yatauro v Edward P. Mangano,decided 08/24/2011
2011 NYSlipOp 81797

Jeff Wice

On Sat, Apr 7, 2012 at 4:41 PM, Justin Levitt <levittj at lls.edu> wrote:

>  With the suits Thursday and yesterday in Hawaii and Wyoming, there are
> (by my count) 157 cases filed so far this cycle with the potential to
> impact statewide (federal or state) maps.  I've got 'em all here<http://redistricting.lls.edu/cases.php>.
>
>
> But finding the earliest one depends on how you count.
>
> Laroque v. Holder <http://redistricting.lls.edu/cases.php#DCC>,
> 1:10-cv-00561 (D.D.C.), filed Apr. 7, 2010, is one of the challenges to the
> constitutionality of the renewal of section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, now
> up on appeal.  In some ways, it's the earliest case that could still impact
> redistricting of this cycle.
>
> Diaz-Balart v. Scott <http://redistricting.lls.edu/cases.php#FL>,
> 1:10-cv-23968 (S.D. Fla.), filed Nov. 3, 2010, was a challenge to new state
> constitutional amendments supplying criteria for redistricting.  It's the
> earliest challenge to one particular state's procedures or criteria this
> cycle.
>
> Britton v. Ritchie <http://redistricting.lls.edu/cases.php#MN>,
> 0:11-cv-00093 (D. Minn.), filed Jan. 12, 2011, was a challenge to maps from
> the 2000 cycle, based on the allegation that the legislature wouldn't be
> able to agree on maps in time.  It's the earliest challenge to "this
> cycle's" statewide maps, even though the challenge was based on the
> assumption that new maps *wouldn't* be drawn this cycle.
>
> And I think Gonzalez v. NJ Apportionment Comm'n<http://redistricting.lls.edu/cases.php#NJ>,
> No. L-001173-11 (N.J. Super. Ct., Mercer County) and No. C-000069-11 (N.J.
> Super. Ct., Ocean County), filed Apr. 20, 2011, has the distinction of
> being the first lawsuit challenging a statewide plan from this cycle that
> had actually already been drawn.  It beat Louisiana's preclearance lawsuit<http://redistricting.lls.edu/cases.php#LA>by a day.
>
> There may have been earlier suits filed against the redistricting of local
> bodies ... that I don't know.
>
> As for 2013 elections, I'm not sure whether this will count, but there was
> a suit in Mississippi -- Miss. NAACP v. Barbour<http://redistricting.lls.edu/cases.php#MS>,
> 3:11-cv-00159 (S.D. Miss.) and 11-82 (S. Ct.) -- attempting to force
> Mississippi to redraw state legislative lines before the 2011 elections;
> the challenge was rejected, which means that Mississippi's lines drawn this
> year will be the lines in place for their 2013 elections.  So in that way,
> it's sort of about the 2013 elections.  Ish.  That's the only one I know of
> so far...
>
> Justin
>
> On 4/7/2012 9:14 AM, Edward Still wrote:
>
> What's the earliest any suit was filed re redistricting for a body that
> has 2012 elections?
>
> Have any suits been filed about redistricting of bodies that have no
> elections in 2012, but have 2013 or 2014 elections.
>
> I would appreciate the name of the case, the docket number and court if
> possible.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Edward Still
> Edward Still Law Firm LLC
> 130 Wildwood Parkway, Suite 108, PMB 304
> Birmingham AL 35209
> 205-320-2882 (voice & fax)
>   still at votelaw.com
>   www.votelaw.com/blog
>   www.edwardstill.com
>   www.linkedin.com/in/edwardstill
>
>
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>
> --
> Justin Levitt
> Associate Professor of Law
> Loyola Law School | Los Angeles
> 919 Albany St.
> Los Angeles, CA  90015213-736-7417justin.levitt at lls.edussrn.com/author=698321
>
>
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