News-politics

Every 10 years, following the US Census, Congressional, state and local legislative districts are redrawn to adjust for changes in population. Redistricting has a tremendous effect on American democracy, impacting control of the House of Representatives at the federal level, but also control of state legislatures and local city councils that might have a more immediate effect for most Americans. The process has been officially under way ever since the Census released its full suite of data in August, and many states have officially completed their congressional maps. This thread is intended for users to discuss proposed maps, news and more related to the redistricting process.

Status:

35 states have approved Congressional maps for the 2022 election (which includes the 6 states with only one at-large district - note: maps approved by the legislature in Arkansas and by the independent redistricting commission in Michigan are not yet in effect)
15 states have proposed maps but have not approved or enacted a map yet
Lawsuits have been filed in 12 states challenging congressional and/or state legislative maps

Recent Developments:

Louisiana became the final state to begin the redistricting process. At issue in this deep red state is a conflict between the Republican dominated legislature and the Democratic Governor, John Bel Edwards, over the creation of a second VRA district. The recent census showed that 31% of Louisiana's population was Black, and the state has 6 congressional districts. Governor Edwards is pushing for a second Black majority or opportunity district, which may also be mandated under the Voting Rights Act.
Pennsylvania's Supreme Court announced today it will exercise its "King's Bench" jurisdiction to take over the redistricting process in that state directly. Democratic Governor Tom Wolf and the Republican dominated state legislature could not agree on congressional maps, resulting in the decision being sent to the PA Commonwealth Court to decide. Democrats had raised objections to the impartiality of the judge overseeing the process, noting that her campaign materials had shown some degree of bias. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court consists of 5 Democrats and 2 Republicans, and the decision to assert jurisdiction over the case fell on partisan lines.
New York released its proposed congressional redistricting map on January 30th, which would result in a partisan gerrymander for the first time in decades where President Biden would have won 22 of its 26 districts (New York narrowly missed out on retaining its 27th seat in the census by less than 90 people).
On January 14th, Ohio's Supreme Court, comprising 4 Republicans and 3 Democrats, struck down the proposed Congressional map that had been drawn by the state's Republican-dominated legislature. Ohio had passed a plebiscite after 2010 which mandated fair districts, which the OH Supreme Court held was not satisfied in the proposed map, which would have resulted in former President Trump carrying 13 of Ohio's 15 districts.

Resources:

FiveThirtyEight's Redistricting Tracker - by far the most comprehensive collection of redistricting information, ranging from proposed maps, status of each state's process, and projected partisan voting index (PVI) of each district.
Dave Wasserman's Twitter - Dave Wasserman of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter regularly updates on proposed maps as well as other redistricting news.
Brennan Center Redistricting Litigation Roundup - this resource surveys redistricting litigation against proposed or enacted maps, which seek to force legislators or commissions to redraw maps or, barring that, for courts to oversee a judicially drawn map.
Ballotpedia) - contains a map of the current status of each state's process.

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Discussion Thread: President Biden Delivers Remarks on a Successful Counterterrorism Operation | 9:30AM ET

Posted: 03 Feb 2022 06:37 AM PST

President Joe Biden will address the American people on Thursday following a counterterrorism operation in Syria that killed Islamic State militant group's leader.

Stream at Whitehouse.gov

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Adam Schiff Explains Why Trump’s Pardon Promise Is ‘Very Important Evidence’

Posted: 03 Feb 2022 03:54 AM PST