- The Elections Clause of the Constitution says that the "times, places and manner of holding elections" for Congress "shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof." The question is whether the legislature referenced there only gives the state legislature the power to draw congressional boundaries, whether they simply need to have some hand in it, or if a legislature could also be interpreted as any voter referendum.
The latter is the point the lawyers for the redistricting commission made earlier this year, to a somewhat skeptical Supreme Court. NPR's Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg had the full breakdown of the arguments before the court back in March.
Well, the redistricting commission's argument practically writes itself: "If 'state' can mean 'not state' (per Burwell), then 'legislature' can mean 'not legislature.'" /s For real, though, when this decision hits the presses, what most articles are going to miss is this: the evidence that political (i.e., legislature-based) redistricting results in partisan bias is actually pretty weak.
Really? As a person living in a hugely gerrymandered state (MI, where 9/13 of our representatives are GOP, while they consistently get <50% of total votes), this is a statement that doesn't at all jibe with my experience. What evidence can you point to?...what most articles are going to miss is this: the evidence that political (i.e., legislature-based) redistricting results in partisan bias is actually pretty weak.