[EL] Justice Alito and Bethune-Hill II dissent

Mon Jun 17 09:11:03 PDT 2019

I agree with Rick that legislators' roll call votes don't capture all of
their activities; they're still very important, though. Michael is also
right that the results are a little less stark if district partisanship is
measured using a statewide race -- but only a little. Here, for example, is
a a chart from a paper <https://legacy.voteview.com/pdf/ajps_393.pdf> by
Nolan McCarty, Keith Poole, and Howard Rosenthal showing the relationship
between House members' voting records and their districts' *presidential* vote
shares (in 2004). There is now *some* difference between same-party
legislators representing safe as opposed to competitive districts. But this
intra-party difference is still dwarfed by the much larger inter-party
difference between Democrats and Republicans.

[image: image.png]

On Mon, Jun 17, 2019 at 10:55 AM Pildes, Rick <rick.pildes at nyu.edu> wrote:

> I agree with Michal McDonald that looking just at the measures that
> actually get voted on cannot provide a full answer to these questions.
> Just look at the a particularly prominent example:  current struggles
> between Democratic House members about whether to initiate an impeachment
> inquiry or proceeding.  Democrats elected from districts that lean
> Republican (or “Trump” districts) are strongly resisting going down that
> path for now; Democrats from overwhelmingly safe seats are the primary
> group pushing to go forward.
>
>
>
> If we ever get to the point of formal votes being taken on
> impeachment-related matters, it might well be that Democrats vote in more
> unified partisan patterns.  But we never get to that point precisely
> because of district-related divisions within the Democratic Party.
>
>
>
> Best,
>
> Rick
>
>
>
> Richard H. Pildes
>
> Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law
>
> NYU School of Law
>
> 40 Washington Sq. So.
>
> NYC, NY 10012
>
> 212 998-6377
>
>
>
> *From:* Michael McDonald [mailto:dr.michael.p.mcdonald at gmail.com]
> *Sent:* Monday, June 17, 2019 11:47 AM
> *To:* Nicholas Stephanopoulos <nicholas.stephanopoulos at gmail.com>
> *Cc:* Pildes, Rick <rick.pildes at nyu.edu>; Election Law Listserv <
> law-election at uci.edu>
> *Subject:* Re: [EL] Justice Alito and Bethune-Hill II dissent
>
>
>
> That's because members condition their voting patterns on the partisan
> composition of their electorate. Moderate members are more likely to
> represent moderate districts and voters reward this behavior. This is why
> looking solely at legislative vote margins as a measure of the districts'
> ideology is a poor approach. A preferred metric is statewide offices.
>
>
> ============
> Dr. Michael P. McDonald
> Associate Professor, University of Florida
> 703-772-1440 (c)
>
> 352-273-2371 (w)
> www.electproject.org
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.electproject.org&d=DwMFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v3oz9bpMizgP1T8KwLv3YT-_iypxaOkdtbkRAclgHRk&m=Lj3lT2Z18VGIyetV_Dx4VOGSxMEeMJRV38Tiu3Us70Q&s=F1xH1S_7qvJrh81b1A9GUo9e2i674xy-7LREiRtf-Mw&e=>
> @ElectProject
>
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Jun 17, 2019 at 11:42 AM Nicholas Stephanopoulos <
> nicholas.stephanopoulos at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The passages Rick highlights are also notable for their romantic, but
> inaccurate, view of contemporary legislative representation. Justice Alito
> writes: "The interests and views of these constituents generally have an
> important effect on everything that a legislator does." He continues: "When
> the boundaries of a district are changed, the constituents and communities
> of interest present within the district are altered, and this is likely to
> change the way in which the district’s representative does his or her work."
>
>
>
> In fact, today's representatives are shockingly *unresponsive* to their
> constituents' preferences. The partisan mix of constituents determines
> whether a Democrat or a Republican is elected. But once that partisan
> choice is made, constituents' views largely stop mattering. Here, for
> example, is a chart from a recent article
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__dspace.mit.edu_handle_1721.1_119500&d=DwMFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v3oz9bpMizgP1T8KwLv3YT-_iypxaOkdtbkRAclgHRk&m=Lj3lT2Z18VGIyetV_Dx4VOGSxMEeMJRV38Tiu3Us70Q&s=gGOAvhL-9MUgaYwOsKW3bDzS4OhXvEleOKau3CMPY3w&e=>
> by Devin Caughey, Chris Tausanovitch, and Chris Warshaw, showing the
> relationship between state legislative districts' partisan makeups and
> state legislators' voting records. There is obviously a huge difference
> between Democrats' and Republicans' voting records. But *within* the
> group of Democratic or Republican legislators, there is essentially no
> connection at all between a district's partisan composition and its
> legislator's voting record. Representatives from safe Democratic or
> Republican districts are practically indistinguishable from representatives
> from competitive seats.
>
>
>
> [image: image.png]
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Jun 17, 2019 at 10:03 AM Pildes, Rick <rick.pildes at nyu.edu> wrote:
>
> 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=>
> .
>
>
>
>
>
> [image: Share]
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.addtoany.com_share-23url-3Dhttps-253A-252F-252Felectionlawblog.org-252F-253Fp-253D105642-26title-3DSupreme-2520Court-252C-2520on-25205-2D4-2520Vote-2520in-2520Bethune-2DHill-2520Racial-2520Gerrymandering-2520Case-2520from-2520Virginia-252C-2520Concludes-2520Va.-2520House-2520of-2520Delegates-2520Lacks-2520Standing-2520to-2520Pursue-2520Challenge.&d=DwMGaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v3oz9bpMizgP1T8KwLv3YT-_iypxaOkdtbkRAclgHRk&m=_2J9rzVzu3gPDSXJg5OKMnwid2ezSVNsHzv84W0rd4I&s=pEZ-vkzgDAke9pEK4Au6nCMftiNs8luH4CzFM4kppU0&e=>
>
> Posted in Uncategorized
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__electionlawblog.org_-3Fcat-3D1&d=DwMGaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v3oz9bpMizgP1T8KwLv3YT-_iypxaOkdtbkRAclgHRk&m=_2J9rzVzu3gPDSXJg5OKMnwid2ezSVNsHzv84W0rd4I&s=XMCxIWmTvMBgIgdj7qfbL1XlNv3RUijCIhDu8p8hQCw&e=>
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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
>
> rhasen at law.uci.edu
>
> http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.law.uci.edu_faculty_full-2Dtime_hasen_&d=DwMGaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v3oz9bpMizgP1T8KwLv3YT-_iypxaOkdtbkRAclgHRk&m=_2J9rzVzu3gPDSXJg5OKMnwid2ezSVNsHzv84W0rd4I&s=s-KnLREcuWUR5qVy5dQEgy-jtUifKDZ6SI5vqxBreck&e=>
>
> http://electionlawblog.org
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__electionlawblog.org_&d=DwMGaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v3oz9bpMizgP1T8KwLv3YT-_iypxaOkdtbkRAclgHRk&m=_2J9rzVzu3gPDSXJg5OKMnwid2ezSVNsHzv84W0rd4I&s=i3p78VEhKbm61EUU-rLv8N-L6ObJfAHf6hN9PE5aPkY&e=>
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> --
>
> Nicholas O. Stephanopoulos
> Professor of Law
>
> Herbert and Marjorie Fried Research Scholar
> University of Chicago Law School
> nsteph at uchicago.edu
> (773) 702-4226
> http://www.law.uchicago.edu/faculty/stephanopoulos
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-- 
Nicholas O. Stephanopoulos
Professor of Law
Herbert and Marjorie Fried Research Scholar
University of Chicago Law School
nsteph at uchicago.edu
(773) 702-4226
http://www.law.uchicago.edu/faculty/stephanopoulos
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