[EL] more news 10/4/17 & reminder

Wed Oct 4 17:09:57 PDT 2017

Reminder: Justin Levitt will be guest blogging through Monday. Please direct any pitches to him levittj at lls.edu<mailto:levittj at lls.edu>.

New Lawsuit by Ed Blum Attacks Constitutionality of California Voting Rights Act<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95219>
Posted on October 4, 2017 3:35 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95219> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Here is the complaint<https://www.projectonfairrepresentation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/1-Complaint.pdf> and here is the press release<https://www.projectonfairrepresentation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/POFR-Higginson-v.-California-Press-Release-Blum-OK-Final.pdf>.
Blum is the force behind the Shelby County cases (killing a key part of the Voting Rights Act) and various attacks on affirmative action.
There was an earlier, unsuccessful challenge to the CVRA years ago, but this one seeks to take advantage of the Supreme Court’s racial gerrymandering line of cases.
The CVRA goes beyond what is required by Section 2 of the (federal) Voting Rights Act, and the claim is that any consideration of race for districting which goes beyond the Section 2 requirements is unconstitutional.
This is a case that could eventually make it to the U.S. Supreme Court, where its fate would be uncertain.
This is one to watch.
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Posted in Voting Rights Act<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>

Nick Stephanopoulos Answers the Justices’ Questions About Measuring Partisan Gerrymandering<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95217>
Posted on October 4, 2017 3:31 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95217> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Here at Slate.<http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2017/10/answering_the_supreme_court_s_questions_on_partisan_gerrymandering.html>
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D95217&title=Nick%20Stephanopoulos%20Answers%20the%20Justices%E2%80%99%20Questions%20About%20Measuring%20Partisan%20Gerrymandering>
Posted in redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

“Justice Kennedy, The First Amendment, and Partisan Gerrymandering”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95215>
Posted on October 4, 2017 3:26 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95215> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
David Gans<https://takecareblog.com/blog/justice-kennedy-the-first-amendment-and-partisan-gerrymandering> blogs at Take Care.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D95215&title=%E2%80%9CJustice%20Kennedy%2C%20The%20First%20Amendment%2C%20and%20Partisan%20Gerrymandering%E2%80%9D>
Posted in redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

“Sociological Gobbledygook or Scientific Standard? Why Judging Gerrymandering is Hard”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95213>
Posted on October 4, 2017 3:21 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95213> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Michael Latner blogs<http://blog.ucsusa.org/michael-latner/sociological-gobbledygook-or-scientific-standard-why-judging-gerrymandering-is-hard> for the Union of Concerned Scientists.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D95213&title=%E2%80%9CSociological%20Gobbledygook%20or%20Scientific%20Standard%3F%20Why%20Judging%20Gerrymandering%20is%20Hard%E2%80%9D>
Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“In partisan times, chief justice worries about the court’s image”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95211>
Posted on October 4, 2017 7:37 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95211> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Joan Biskupic write<http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/03/politics/john-roberts-image-gerrymandering-redistricting/index.html>s at CNN.
I posted my thoughts on the Chief’s remarks in Gill here.<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95181>
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D95211&title=%E2%80%9CIn%20partisan%20times%2C%20chief%20justice%20worries%20about%20the%20court%E2%80%99s%20image%E2%80%9D>
Posted in Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

Justice Kennedy’s Partisan Gerrymandering Hypothetical is North Carolina’s Reality<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95208>
Posted on October 4, 2017 7:26 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95208> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Michael Li makes the point in just two tweets:
View image on Twitter<https://twitter.com/mcpli/status/915337438792491009/photo/1>
[iew image on Twitter]<https://twitter.com/mcpli/status/915337438792491009/photo/1>
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[https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/757344014/mail_bigger.jpeg]Michael Li <https://twitter.com/mcpli>
✔@mcpli<https://twitter.com/mcpli>
This hypo by Justice Kennedy at today's partisan gerrymandering argument also was pretty interesting. #fairmaps<https://twitter.com/hashtag/fairmaps?src=hash>
3:07 PM - Oct 3, 2017<https://twitter.com/mcpli/status/915337438792491009>

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3 Oct<https://twitter.com/mcpli/status/915337438792491009>
[https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/757344014/mail_bigger.jpeg]Michael Li <https://twitter.com/mcpli>
 ✔@mcpli<https://twitter.com/mcpli>
This hypo by Justice Kennedy at today's partisan gerrymandering argument also was pretty interesting. #fairmaps<https://twitter.com/hashtag/fairmaps?src=hash>pic.twitter.com/ftjNgysE2f<https://t.co/ftjNgysE2f>
<https://twitter.com/mcpli>
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[https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/757344014/mail_bigger.jpeg]Michael Li <https://twitter.com/mcpli>
✔@mcpli<https://twitter.com/mcpli>
Not the least because the situation in the hypo basically is what actually happened in NC in 2016. #fairmaps<https://twitter.com/hashtag/fairmaps?src=hash>http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/election/article93903767.html …<https://t.co/Qzuq6f15QZ>pic.twitter.com/6NRFJobzCx<https://t.co/6NRFJobzCx>
3:12 PM - Oct 3, 2017<https://twitter.com/mcpli/status/915338714905268227>
[iew image on Twitter]<https://twitter.com/mcpli/status/915338714905268227/photo/1>

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Not to put too fine a point on it, but if the Court does not rein in partisan gerrymandering, it will be North Carolina that will be the norm, and it surely will make things even worse in terms of the public’s views of our democratic process.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D95208&title=Justice%20Kennedy%E2%80%99s%20Partisan%20Gerrymandering%20Hypothetical%20is%20North%20Carolina%E2%80%99s%20Reality>
Posted in redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

“Holder-Led Group Challenges Georgia Redistricting, Claiming Racial Bias”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95206>
Posted on October 4, 2017 7:21 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95206> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NYT:<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/03/us/eric-holder-georgia-redistricting-racial-bias.html?_r=0>
A Democratic group led by the former attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr. has accused the State of Georgia of flouting the Voting Rights Act, claiming that Georgia Republicans reshaped two state legislative districts to minimize the electoral influence of African-American voters.
Mr. Holder’s group, the National Redistricting Foundation, is expected to file suit in Federal District Court in Atlanta on Tuesday. The complaint charges that race was the “predominant factor” in adjusting two districts — the 105th and 111th — in the Atlanta area where white lawmakers had faced spirited challenges from black Democrats.
Will have to wait to see the complaint, but a VRA violation is not the same as a racial gerrymandering violation (looking at race as the predominant factor).
Update: Here is the complaint<https://www.dropbox.com/s/k1525c6cp3z1b13/2017-10-3%20Filed%20Complaint.pdf?dl=0>, raising both types of claims.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D95206&title=%E2%80%9CHolder-Led%20Group%20Challenges%20Georgia%20Redistricting%2C%20Claiming%20Racial%20Bias%E2%80%9D>
Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Voting with an ‘Unsound Mind’? A Comparative Study of the Voting Rights of Persons with Mental Disabilities”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95204>
Posted on October 4, 2017 7:18 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95204> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Trevor Ryan, Andrew Henderson and Wendy Bonython have posted this draft<https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3041231> on SSRN (UNSW Law Journal).  Here is the abstract:
While Australia has a system of universal franchise, in the sense of a system of voting that is broadly inclusionary, there are some notable exceptions – minors and some convicted criminals are excluded, for example. While the political participation of these excluded groups sometimes attracts attention in the media, there is another group that has been even more marginalised, both within society and within debates over the franchise. This group is persons with mental disability or, more precisely, with actual or assumed impaired decision-making capacity resulting from chronic or acute mental illness, dementia, intellectual disability or brain injury. This appears to be changing as individual nations (including Australia) assess their compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on a range of issues and as a greater number of citizens experience dementia in an ageing population. This article seeks to contribute to this reform momentum by comparing the laws relating to this issue across jurisdictions, particularly Japan and Australia, to argue for a political franchise without discrimination against persons with mental disabilities.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D95204&title=%E2%80%9CVoting%20with%20an%20%E2%80%98Unsound%20Mind%E2%80%99%3F%20A%20Comparative%20Study%20of%20the%20Voting%20Rights%20of%20Persons%20with%20Mental%20Disabilities%E2%80%9D>
Posted in voters with disabilities<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=71>

“Turmeric for a Rare Consensus”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95202>
Posted on October 4, 2017 7:15 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95202> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Mike Parsons<https://moderndemocracyblog.com/2017/10/04/turmeric-for-a-rare-consensus/> on the Gill argument.
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Posted in redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

--
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
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