Redistricting Litigation: An Overview of Legal, Statistical, and Case-Management Issues

• NCJ Number: 194583
• Author(s): Bruce M. Clarke; Robert T. Reagan
• Date Published: 2002
• Length: 78 pages
• Corporate Author: Federal Judicial Ctr
• Sale Source: Federal Judicial Ctr
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Monograph
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This monograph details the law of redistricting through a discussion of the major issues and provisions that surface as a result of redistricting legislation, with the main themes under examination including the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which protect against racial gerrymandering and vote dilution.

Abstract

This monograph serves as a detailed overview of the law of redistricting. Chapter one examines the legal and political issues under consideration in redistricting cases, namely the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection clause which prohibits the redrawing of district lines on the basis of race, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which ensures that the votes of racial or language minorities are qualitatively equal to the votes of the majority. The authors elaborate on the legal requirements relevant to challenging redistricting legislation and the problems inherent in doing so. Issues of federalism, the separation of powers, and partisan gerrymandering are discussed as recurring legal and political issues involved in redistricting legislation. Chapter two of the monograph shows how statistical models are used to prove that minority voters have intentionally been placed in voting districts where they are outvoted by majority voters. Statistical evidence is necessary to these cases because an examination of actual voting practices is impossible given the secret ballad method of voting used in the United States. The statistical models under examination in this monograph include the homogeneous precinct analysis, the ecological regression model, and Gary King's method of statistical analysis. Finally, chapter three outlines the special problems inherent in the case-management of redistricting litigation, which is described here as complex and time-consuming. The unique features of these cases require special consideration, including the scheduling of cases with pending election dates, the use of special masters or court-appointed experts, and the problems inherent in three-judge district courts.