The Fourth Circuit decided an interesting political gerrymanding case today,
Duckworth
v. State Administrative Board. (Thanks very much to a reader for passing
the case along.) The plaintiff tried to use the allegedly bizarre shape
of the district to prove that the defendants had engaged in an unconstitutional
partisan gerrymander, favoring Democrats over Republicans. The theory that
bizarre shape matters to an equal protection claim made its appearance in
racial gerrymandering cases, beginning with the Supreme Court's decision
in Shaw v. Reno.
The Fourth Circuit rejected the argument as applied to political gerrymanders:
Discriminatory political effects instead emanate from majority action that
establishes political mechanics that preclude minority participation, to
some degree, in the political process writ large. Bizarre looking congressional
districts do not imply such action because, despite their strange appearance,
all affected voters still have a congressional representative, cast equally
weighted votes for that representative, and so enjoy true representation —
the essence of participation in the political process. There is thus no rationale
for inferring from a district’s appearance that it has discriminatory political
effects, as opposed to non-discriminatory political effects."
The court then went on to try to explain why it believed that shape could
be relevant in the racial context but not in the partisan context. It concluded:
"Ultimately, [plaintiff] complains simply that more Democrats than Republi-cans
live in his district, and thus that Republican candidates are bound to lose.
This outcome is not evidence of discriminatory effect. To the contrary, it
is the embodiment of democratic representation: the majority of people selecting
their choice of representative."
--
Rick Hasen
Professor of Law and William M. Rains Fellow
Loyola Law School
919 South Albany Street
Los Angeles, CA 90015-1211
(213)736-1466
(213)380-3769 - fax
rick.hasen@lls.edu
http://www.lls.edu/academics/faculty/hasen.html
http://electionlaw.blogspot.com