"An Era of Perpetual Redistricting"

Gerrymandered districts are being redrawn in some states while a new of round lawsuits are filed in others.

Photo by Nico Smit

"We are living in an era of perpetual redistricting."

-John Bisognano, president of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee

While each state’s congressional districts are required to be redrawn only once every 10 years, many states today are on their second, third or even fourth round of congressional maps due to gerrymandering. The following states currently have outstanding (or recently decided) court cases that accuse the state legislature of gerrymandering congressional districts. Of the eight congressional district maps discussed below, seven maps were drawn by Republicans and only one was drawn by Democrats.

Racial Gerrymandering

Alabama - Decided by SCOTUS

Alabama Republicans submitted a map that was found by SCOTUS to unduly restrict the voting rights of African American voters due to the way it packed Black voters into a single district and diluted their influence in all others. The state Republican party ignored SCOTUS’s request to enact a new map that gives Black voters electoral power and instead passed a map with similar districts to their initial map. This new map was quickly struck down by federal courts and many are unsure what might happen next.

Louisiana - Appealed to 5th U.S. Circuit Court

Louisiana Republicans are likely taking notes on what’s happening in Alabama as they’ve followed in their footsteps with redistricting in their own state. They too submitted a map that packed most Black voters into a single district, despite the fact that these voters make up a third of the state’s population. The court has scheduled to hear oral arguments on Oct 6 and a decision is expected ahead of the 2024 elections.

Georgia - Working through federal court system…

Like Alabama and Louisiana, Georgia is also facing a lawsuit against its congressional district map due to the way it disenfranchises the state’s Black voters. This case has been moving slowly and silently through the federal court system. The most recent court action occurred in late July 2023 when a judge dismissed a motion to dismiss the case, ensuring that the case will proceed.

Florida - Appealed to Florida Supreme Court

Drawn by Gov. Ron DeSantis himself, Florida’s congressional district map has been accused of systematically disenfranchising Black voters in North Florida by drawing away what was once a majority Black district. DeSantis’s involvement was instrumental in getting this map enacted as his own Republican colleagues did not have faith the map would stand up in court and instead floated an odd ‘two-map’ proposal that contained a “secondary,” map to act as a backup should the first map be tossed out.

Rather than filing a case in federal court like all other outstanding racial gerrymandering lawsuits, plaintiffs are litigating this case in Florida’s court system and are arguing that the new maps violate the state constitution as opposed to the U.S. constitution. The case has been ‘fast-tracked’ to the Florida Supreme Court, bypassing lower courts in order to reach a decision ahead of the 2024 elections.

Tennessee - Emerging racial gerrymandering challenge

Much uproar was made about partisan gerrymandering when Tennessee Republicans enacted the state’s new congressional district map due to their decision to ‘crack’ Nashville across three different congressional districts. (Previously the entire city was encompassed by a single district that reliably voted for Democrats.) However, civil rights groups have revived criticism of the map threw new allegations that the districts lean on racial gerrymandering to give Republicans an edge as Nashville is on the cusp of becoming a minority-majority city. The suit was filed in federal court in early August 2023.

Partisan Gerrymandering

New York - Currently drawing new districts

New York is the only state dealing with a recent gerrymandering decision where Democrats are responsible for drawing slanted districts. National Democrats’ redistricting strategy leaned heavily on the party’s advantageous position presiding over New York’s redistricting process and its 26 congressional districts. However, state Democrats were overzealous in their mapmaking and their map was struck down by the New York Supreme Court for drawing districts that unduly favored Democratic candidates and disenfranchised Republican voters. The state’s redistricting process was restarted after a temporary map was used for the 2022 elections, therefore Democrats have a second opportunity to pass a fair congressional map. New districts are currently being drawn and will be used in the 2024 elections.

North Carolina - Currently drawing new districts

North Carolina’s redistricting process has gone around the horn and back again. Republicans attempted to pass a map using a “race-blind” methodology that ignored any data on race and ethnicity. This resulted in a map that unduly favored Republicans and was struck down by the North Carolina Supreme Court. A new map was drawn by state court justices and was used in the 2022 elections. After partisan control of the state Supreme Court flipped to Republicans in early 2023, the state’s high court reversed its stance on partisan gerrymanders. This effectively allows the Republican-led legislature to pass another map tilted in their favor, this time free from judicial reproach.

Utah - Appealed to Utah Supreme Court

Utah’s four congressional district boundaries all converge at a single point in a suburb just south of Salt Lake City. This configuration effectively cracks the city’s Democratic voting coalition to prevent these voters from holding power in any one seat. Several local civil rights groups have filed a joint lawsuit challenging the maps for partisan gerrymandering. The suit has made its way to the Utah Supreme Court but it is unclear when the case will be heard.