[EL] Justice Alito and Bethune-Hill II dissent

[Pildes, Rick]

Justice Alito has always had a particularly keen interest in redistricting, which I assume traces to his father’s involvement with the redistricting pro0cess during his work with the New Jersey legislature.  Thus, I am not surprised he wrote the dissent in today’s case.  Leaving aside the standing issue itself, his dissent includes many noteworthy statements about how much redistricting affects what legislatures do and the laws they produce.  Here’s a sampling of the comments that stood out to me.  These comments, in my view, are in considerable tension with one argument Justice Scalia made in his plurality opinion in Vieth, in which he argues it is “impossible to assess the effects of partisan gerrymandering” because who knows how voters will vote from election to election.  From Justice Alito today:

“A legislative districting plan powerfully affects a legislative body’s output of work.”

“…it matters a lot how voters with shared interests and views are concentrated or split up. The cumulative effects of all the decisions that go into a districting plan have an important impact on the overall work of the body. All of this should really go without saying.”

“Districting matters because it has institutional and legislative consequences.  … To suggest otherwise, to argue that substituting one plan for another has no effect on the work or output of the legislative body whose districts are changed, would really be quite astounding.  If the selection
of a districting plan did not alter what the legislative body does, why would there be such pitched battles over redistricting efforts?”




Richard H. Pildes
Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law
NYU School of Law
40 Washington Sq. So.
NYC, NY 10012
212 998-6377

From: Law-election [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Rick Hasen
Sent: Monday, June 17, 2019 10:26 AM
To: Election Law Listserv <law-election at uci.edu>
Subject: [EL] Bethune-Hill II decided



Supreme Court, on 5-4 Vote in Bethune-Hill Racial Gerrymandering Case from Virginia, Concludes Va. House of Delegates Lacks Standing to Pursue Challenge.<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__electionlawblog.org_-3Fp-3D105642&d=DwMGaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v3oz9bpMizgP1T8KwLv3YT-_iypxaOkdtbkRAclgHRk&m=_2J9rzVzu3gPDSXJg5OKMnwid2ezSVNsHzv84W0rd4I&s=FpfO4LiwXDfmif3zgrUNj4juhgqgho8lWIo63sKCiOo&e=>
Posted on June 17, 2019 7:23 am<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__electionlawblog.org_-3Fp-3D105642&d=DwMGaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v3oz9bpMizgP1T8KwLv3YT-_iypxaOkdtbkRAclgHRk&m=_2J9rzVzu3gPDSXJg5OKMnwid2ezSVNsHzv84W0rd4I&s=FpfO4LiwXDfmif3zgrUNj4juhgqgho8lWIo63sKCiOo&e=> by Rick Hasen<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__electionlawblog.org_-3Fauthor-3D3&d=DwMGaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v3oz9bpMizgP1T8KwLv3YT-_iypxaOkdtbkRAclgHRk&m=_2J9rzVzu3gPDSXJg5OKMnwid2ezSVNsHzv84W0rd4I&s=uZSQJtx2EQGpq5dQNkZYFpA8qItLE3oW7K_nPhRfOKg&e=>

You can find the opinion here<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.supremecourt.gov_opinions_18pdf_18-2D281-5F6j37.pdf&d=DwMGaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v3oz9bpMizgP1T8KwLv3YT-_iypxaOkdtbkRAclgHRk&m=_2J9rzVzu3gPDSXJg5OKMnwid2ezSVNsHzv84W0rd4I&s=-eqGbLe_46bYNVszNMUeLGtUOwnDGfrGVgUDwGbxVEA&e=>.




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UC Irvine School of Law
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