[EL] SCOTUS takes Alabama redistricting cases.

[Rick Hasen]

UPDATE: SCOTUSBlog page for 13-1138 
<http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/alabama-democratic-conference-v-alabama/>; 
opinion 
<http://www2.bloomberglaw.com/public/desktop/document/Ala_Legislative_Black_Caucus_v_Alabama_CASE_NO_212CV691_ThreeJudg>.

SCOTUSBlog case page for 13-895 
<http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/alabama-legislative-black-caucus-v-alabama/>;  
(same opinion).

On 6/2/14, 7:19 AM, Rick Hasen wrote:
>
>
>     "Supreme Court to hear Ala. redistricting challenge"
>     <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61943>
>
> Posted on June 2, 2014 7:13 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61943>by 
> Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
>
> AP 
> <http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SUPREME_COURT_ALABAMA_REDISTRICTING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT>: 
> "The Supreme Court said Monday it will consider a challenge from 
> Alabama Democrats who say a Republican-drawn legislative map 
> intentionally packs black Democrats into a few voting districts, 
> giving them too little influence in the Legislature."
>
> This will mark the first time since the /LULAC /decision that the 
> Court will consider the unconstitutional racial gerrymandering cause 
> of action.  The last significant look at that question was Easley v. 
> Cromartie <http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/532/234/>, when 
> Justice O'Connor, whose views were so central to this cause of action, 
> was still on the Court.  (In /Cromartie /Justice O'Connor joined the 
> liberals in rejecting a racial gerrymandering claim, after a number of 
> cases, beginning with Shaw v. Reno 
> <http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=2057233072475851470&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr>, 
> where she recognized it but differed from the other Justices about how 
> to prove it.)
>
> It will be interesting to see what the Chief and Justice Alito think 
> about this.
>
> The grants were limited, as Marty Lederman explains:
>
>     Alabama Democratic Conference v. Alabama, No. 13-1138 (limited to
>     question one --- Whether Alabama's effort to redraw the lines of
>     each majority-black district to have the same black population as
>     it would have using 2010 census data as applied to the former
>     district lines, when combined with the state's new goal of
>     significantly reducing population deviation among districts,
>     amounted to an unconstitutional racial quota and racial
>     gerrymandering that is subject to strict scrutiny and that was not
>     justified by the putative interest of complying with the
>     non-retrogression aspect of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act;
>     and whether these plaintiffs have standing to bring such a
>     constitutional claim;), and
>
>     Alabama Legislative Black Caucus v. Alabama, No. 13-895 (limited
>     to question two --- whether Alabama's legislative redistricting
>     plans unconstitutionally classify black voters by race by
>     intentionally packing them in districts designed to maintain
>     supermajority percentages produced when 2010 census data are
>     applied to the 2001 majority-black districts).
>
> Share 
> <http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D61943&title=%E2%80%9CSupreme%20Court%20to%20hear%20Ala.%20redistricting%20challenge%E2%80%9D&description=>
> Posted in redistricting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Supreme 
> Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>, Voting Rights Act 
> <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>
>
> -- 
> Rick Hasen
> Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
> UC Irvine School of Law
> 401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
> Irvine, CA 92697-8000
> 949.824.3072 - office
> 949.824.0495 - fax
> rhasen at law.uci.edu
> http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
> http://electionlawblog.org
>
>
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-- 
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
949.824.3072 - office
949.824.0495 - fax
rhasen at law.uci.edu
http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
http://electionlawblog.org

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