[EL] VA redistricting decision/Samoan citizenship decision/more news

Fri Jun 5 11:54:23 PDT 2015

    Breaking: Federal Court on 2-1 Vote Finds Congressional Districting
    Plan Unconstitutional Racial Gerrymander
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73232>

Posted onJune 5, 2015 11:46 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73232>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

You can read the 105-page opinion and dissent from the three-judge 
courthere 
<https://www.scribd.com/doc/267795815/Page-v-Va-Board-of-Elections>. 
Following remand from the Supreme Court following the /Alabama /racial 
gerrymandering case, the three judge court today found that racial 
considerations predominated over others in the drawing of Virginia’s 
third congressional redistricting, and that such consideration of race 
was not justified by any compelling state interest. The dissenting judge 
disagreed that race was the predominant factor, and said it was 
incumbency protection which motivated the drawing of the lines.

There is no stay in place. Va will have to redraw districts by September 
1, or try to get a stay from this court, or potentially the Supreme Court.

Because this is a case from a three-judge court, any appeal goes 
directly to the U.S. Supreme Court, which can summarily affirm, 
summarily reverse, or take the case.  I have not had a chance to read 
this opinion in any detail yet to have an opinion on what the Court is 
likely to do. But I have been very skeptical of the Court’s approach in 
the racial gerrymandering cases. See my piece,Racial Gerrymandering’s 
Questionable Revival 
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2601459>, analyzing 
the /Alabama /case.

Justinexplained <http://redistricting.lls.edu/cases-VA.php#VA>the 
background of today’s decision: “On October 7, 2014, the courtstruck 
down 
<http://redistricting.lls.edu/files/VA%20page%2020141007%20opinion.pdf> 
Virginia’s congressional district 3, as an unconstitutional racial 
gerrymander. The court found that although compliance with the Voting 
Rights Act was (and is) a compelling state interest, the legislature’s 
use of broad demographic target percentages, without accounting for 
political reality on the ground, left its plan insufficiently tailored 
to VRA compliance. The districts will remain in place for 2014, but must 
be modified by the next federal election cycle. The decision was 
appealed directly to the U.S. Supreme Court, and on March 30, 2015, the 
Supreme Courtvacated and remanded 
<http://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/033015zor_5iek.pdf>for 
consideration in light of /ALBC v. Alabama/ 
<http://redistricting.lls.edu/cases.php#ALBC>.”

[This post has been updated.]

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Posted inredistricting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>,Supreme Court 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

    “40 Years of Democrats Talking About How Much They Want to Get Money
    Out of Politics” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73230>

Posted onJune 5, 2015 11:17 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73230>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The Intercept. 
<https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/06/05/40-years-democratic-presidents-talking-much-want-get-money-politics/>

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Posted inUncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

    “The voting conversation has shifted. That’s good news for Dems.”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73228>

Posted onJune 5, 2015 11:12 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73228>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Zack Roth 
<http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/the-voting-conversation-has-shifted-thats-good-news-dems>for 
MSNBC.

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Posted inThe Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

    “Hillary Sides With Democracy” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73226>

Posted onJune 5, 2015 11:06 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73226>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Jonathan Bernstein 
<http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-06-05/hillary-sides-with-democracy>for 
Bloomberg View.

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Posted inUncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

    “Hillary Clinton Calls the Republican Bluff on Voting Rights”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73224>

Posted onJune 5, 2015 10:47 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73224>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Jonathan Chiat. 
<http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/06/clinton-calls-the-gop-bluff-on-voting-rights.html>

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Posted inUncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

    Unanimous DC Circuit Rejects Birthright Citizenship for American
    Samoans <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73222>

Posted onJune 5, 2015 10:18 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73222>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Tuaua v. U.S. 
<http://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/A927D0D5D8A8FB0B85257E5B004F530D/$file/13-5272-1555940.pdf>:

    BROWN, Circuit Judge: In our constitutional republic, Justice
    Brandeis observed, the title of citizen is superior to the title of
    President. Thus, the questions “[w]ho is the citizen[?]” and “what
    is the meaning of the term?” Aristotle, Politics bk. 3, reprinted in
    part in READINGS IN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY 55, 61 (Francis W. Coker
    ed., 1938), are no less than the questions of “who constitutes the
    sovereign state?” and “what is the meaning of statehood as an
    association?” We are called upon to resolve one narrow circumstance
    implicating these weighty inquiries. Appellants are individuals born
    in the United States territory of American Samoa. Statutorily deemed
    “non-citizen nationals” at birth, they argue the Fourteenth
    Amendment’s Citizenship Clause affords them citizenship by dint of
    birthright. They are opposed not merely by the United States but by
    the democratically elected government of the American Samoan people.
    We sympathize with Appellants’ individual plights, apparently more
    freighted with duty and sacrifice than benefits and privilege, but
    the Citizenship Clause is textually ambiguous as to whether “in the
    United States” encompasses America’s unincorporated territories and
    we hold it “impractical and anomalous,” see Reid v. Covert, 354 U.S.
    1, 75 (1957), to impose citizenship by judicial fiat—where doing so
    requires us to override the democratic prerogatives of the American
    Samoan people themselves. The judgment of the district court is
    affirmed; the Citizenship Clause does not extend birthright
    citizenship to those born in American Samoa

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Posted invoting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=31>

    “Will Democrats Keep Their Early Voting Advantage in 2016?”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73220>

Posted onJune 5, 2015 9:38 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73220>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Sam Frizell 
reports<http://time.com/3910232/hillary-clinton-early-voting/?xid=tcoshare>for 
TIME.

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Posted inelection administration 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,The Voting Wars 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

    “Bankroller of Democratic Voting Rights Cases? George Soros”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73218>

Posted onJune 5, 2015 8:48 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73218>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Maggie Haberman 
<http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/06/05/bankroller-of-democratic-voting-rights-cases-george-soros/>reports 
for the NYT:

    The billionaire philanthropist George Soros, whose first major
    involvement in politics was with a large-scale voter mobilization
    effort in the 2004 presidential race, is funding aDemocratic legal
    fight against restrictive voting laws
    <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/04/us/politics/democrats-voter-rights-lawsuit-hillary-clinton.html>.

    Mr. Soros became involved last year when Marc Elias, one of the top
    Democratic lawyers specializing in voter protection issues, began
    exploring a series of federal suits in advance of the 2016 election,
    according to Mr. Soros’s political adviser, Michael Vachon.

    Their goal is to try to influence voting rules in states where
    Republican governors and Republican-led legislatures have enacted
    new election laws since 2010, and to be ready to intervene when
    additional measures may be passed over the next 17 months.

    Mr. Soros is prepared to spend $5 million or more on the effort, Mr.
    Vachon said. Two suits that he is supporting were filed in Ohio and
    in Wisconsin last month, and he is also funding a case Mr. Elias is
    involved with in North Carolina.

Wow. This is going to make The Voting Wars even hotter in 2016. No one 
is more of a bogeyman on the right than Soros (a point I explore in 
myVoting Wars 
<http://www.amazon.com/Voting-Wars-Florida-Election-Meltdown/dp/0300182031/ref=la_B0089NJCR2_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1433519278&sr=1-8>book).

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Posted inelection administration 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,The Voting Wars 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

-- 
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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