[EL] Political question doctrine question (re: Ohio partisan gerrymander struck down)

Sat May 4 06:16:08 PDT 2019

Rick, you don’t count Luther as a political question case? The State Supreme Court did reach the merits.

e

Sent from my iPhone

On May 4, 2019, at 7:39 AM, Pildes, Rick <rick.pildes at nyu.edu<mailto:rick.pildes at nyu.edu>> wrote:

Marty,
Your question has to be answered in two parts.  First, since Baker v. Carr launched the modern political-question doctrine, the Court has never held something to be non-justiciable solely for the reason that there were “no judicially manageable standards.” Second, the Court since Baker has found a political question to exist in only two cases:  Nixon (the judge, not the President), where the Court concluded there was a clear textual commitment to give Congress the sole power to impeach, and Gilligan v. Morgan, in the aftermath of the Kent State shootings, where the Court held it inappropriate for courts to engage in ongoing supervisory jurisdiction over the National Guard (though damages were available for unconstitutional conduct).

There simply were not a lot of cases in the lower courts, obviously, that raised these questions at the time the Court decided Nixon or Gilligan.  For more on this, see John Harrison, The Political Question Doctrines, 67 Am. U. L. Rev. 457, 459 (2017).

From: Law-election [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Marty Lederman
Sent: Friday, May 3, 2019 1:21 PM
To: Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>>; ConLawProf <conlawprof at lists.ucla.edu<mailto:conlawprof at lists.ucla.edu>>; fedcourtlitigation at lists.aila.org<mailto:fedcourtlitigation at lists.aila.org>
Cc: Election Law Listserv <law-election at uci.edu<mailto:law-election at uci.edu>>
Subject: Re: [EL] Political question doctrine question (re: Ohio partisan gerrymander struck down)

I've never really thought this through, and perhaps the answer's obvious one way or the other, but thought I'd toss it out to you all here:

Has the SCOTUS ever held that something was a nonjusticiable federal question because of a "lack of judicially discoverable and manageable standards" (which the Court will likely do in the next few weeks re: gerrymandering) after several lower courts had "discovered and managed" such standards?

On Fri, May 3, 2019 at 1:12 PM Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>> wrote:
Breaking: Unanimous 3-Judge Court, in 300-Page Opinion, Strikes Ohio Congressional Districts as Unconstitutional Partisan Gerrymanders<https://nam03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.proofpoint.com%2Fv2%2Furl%3Fu%3Dhttps-3A__electionlawblog.org_-3Fp-3D104993%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DslrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ%26r%3Dv3oz9bpMizgP1T8KwLv3YT-_iypxaOkdtbkRAclgHRk%26m%3Dss3wgicILbFNv4YFVPOTV9sV2RebAaQgWAD_xR9F4jE%26s%3D5SxpQLsDiQdPYGsofVgXfv67bItlqAxHECOeyWSH5jk%26e%3D&data=02%7C01%7Cesegall%40gsu.edu%7C3ac25b74599d4ea9ec9d08d6d0851988%7C515ad73d8d5e4169895c9789dc742a70%7C0%7C0%7C636925667422579412&sdata=DMNxlHWBMMZeR08yzt4GoU9eLTvU7bHKrkJ1QE7y6B4%3D&reserved=0>
Posted on May 3, 2019 10:07 am<https://nam03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.proofpoint.com%2Fv2%2Furl%3Fu%3Dhttps-3A__electionlawblog.org_-3Fp-3D104993%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DslrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ%26r%3Dv3oz9bpMizgP1T8KwLv3YT-_iypxaOkdtbkRAclgHRk%26m%3Dss3wgicILbFNv4YFVPOTV9sV2RebAaQgWAD_xR9F4jE%26s%3D5SxpQLsDiQdPYGsofVgXfv67bItlqAxHECOeyWSH5jk%26e%3D&data=02%7C01%7Cesegall%40gsu.edu%7C3ac25b74599d4ea9ec9d08d6d0851988%7C515ad73d8d5e4169895c9789dc742a70%7C0%7C0%7C636925667422579412&sdata=DMNxlHWBMMZeR08yzt4GoU9eLTvU7bHKrkJ1QE7y6B4%3D&reserved=0> by Rick Hasen<https://nam03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.proofpoint.com%2Fv2%2Furl%3Fu%3Dhttps-3A__electionlawblog.org_-3Fauthor-3D3%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DslrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ%26r%3Dv3oz9bpMizgP1T8KwLv3YT-_iypxaOkdtbkRAclgHRk%26m%3Dss3wgicILbFNv4YFVPOTV9sV2RebAaQgWAD_xR9F4jE%26s%3D06F3ac3w8nzHjltTv_xWWdU6h1EJRqhhfXUrJvdw7J8%26e%3D&data=02%7C01%7Cesegall%40gsu.edu%7C3ac25b74599d4ea9ec9d08d6d0851988%7C515ad73d8d5e4169895c9789dc742a70%7C0%7C0%7C636925667422589407&sdata=BTp%2F%2FlhDbxCfBc4j2a52BMxFS1kdIeMAs8xpdKpAg7I%3D&reserved=0>

You can find the opinion at this link<https://nam03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.proofpoint.com%2Fv2%2Furl%3Fu%3Dhttps-3A__www.scribd.com_document_408562889_Ohio-2DRedistricting-2Ddecision%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DslrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ%26r%3Dv3oz9bpMizgP1T8KwLv3YT-_iypxaOkdtbkRAclgHRk%26m%3Dss3wgicILbFNv4YFVPOTV9sV2RebAaQgWAD_xR9F4jE%26s%3DUNr7hAx2PzK2Q5vEiw7jo7LvN7fbDQIkTz5Mq0LLVP0%26e%3D&data=02%7C01%7Cesegall%40gsu.edu%7C3ac25b74599d4ea9ec9d08d6d0851988%7C515ad73d8d5e4169895c9789dc742a70%7C0%7C0%7C636925667422589407&sdata=PacskNkWe0T4ZPq4fCoKztdbxtuqPq%2FCnvGwfc7Ga7g%3D&reserved=0>. From the introduction:

We join the other federal courts that have held partisan gerrymandering unconstitutional and developed substantially similar standards for adjudicating such claims. We are convinced by the evidence that this partisan gerrymander was intentional and effective and that no legitimate justification accounts for its extremity. Performing our analysis district by district, we conclude that the 2012 map dilutes the votes of Democratic voters by packing and cracking them into districts that are so skewed toward one party that the electoral outcome is predetermined. We conclude that the map unconstitutionally burdens associational rights by making it more difficult for voters and certain organizations to advance their aims, be they pro-Democratic or pro-democracy. We conclude that by creating such a map, the State exceeded its powers under Article I of the Constitution. Accordingly, we declare Ohio’s 2012 map an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander, enjoin its use in the 2020 election, and order the enactment of a constitutionally viable replacement.

I suspect that Ohio, as Michigan just did when faced with a similar ruling, will ask the United States Supreme Court to stay this ruling pending the decision in the pending partisan gerrymandering cases out of North Carolina and Maryland. I expect the Court will grant that request.

What the Supreme Court ends up doing here is uncertain, but it is quite remarkable how many lower courts, many of them unanimous, have now issued decisions, along similar contours<https://nam03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.proofpoint.com%2Fv2%2Furl%3Fu%3Dhttps-3A__electionlawblog.org_-3Fp-3D104888%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DslrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ%26r%3Dv3oz9bpMizgP1T8KwLv3YT-_iypxaOkdtbkRAclgHRk%26m%3Dss3wgicILbFNv4YFVPOTV9sV2RebAaQgWAD_xR9F4jE%26s%3DWMIeIg4jKztC2j1Ly2_kvtwnIvdKG6SQxC77OKjNQq8%26e%3D&data=02%7C01%7Cesegall%40gsu.edu%7C3ac25b74599d4ea9ec9d08d6d0851988%7C515ad73d8d5e4169895c9789dc742a70%7C0%7C0%7C636925667422599404&sdata=p1HowPQ0qCqmhjOwFrnGXMUH%2FfrTtwbiUWMaxSeBC%2Fs%3D&reserved=0>, finding partisan gerrymandering to violate one or more provisions of the U.S. Constitution.
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