LAW 743LEC - Legislative Redistricting

This class presents the remarkable opportunity to evaluate the law surrounding “one person one vote” in real time, as the future of this fundamental civil right is decided in the Supreme Court and the statehouse. 2020 is a dicennial census year, which means that each state will be drawing legislative boundaries for state and federal offices. This class will begin with an historical survey of United States Supreme Court decisions interpreting the “one person one vote” principle after 1962’s landmark decision in Baker v. Carr which found for the first time that Constitutional challenges to redistricting plans were justiciable rather than “political questions”. We will discuss the 1965 Voting Rights Act and its effects on legislative boundary-making, and finish by discussing two “political gerrymandering” cases argued March 26, 2019 - Rucho v Common and Lamone v. Benisek which should be decided around the time of the course. We will then examine legislative redistricting in New York and the 2010 state Constitutional Amendments which created a 10 member Independent Redistricting Commission. We will conclude with an examination of the sophisticated computer software which allows for citizens to create legislative districts based on available census data.

Credits: 3