Redistricting

Texas Legislature passes redistricting without Democrats present

| Importance: 10/10

In a controversial move, the Texas Legislature voted to change quorum rules and pass a new congressional map creating five additional safe Republican seats without Democratic members present. The legislature modified procedural rules to allow passage despite the absence of Democratic lawmakers, who …

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Texas House Democrats flee to Illinois to break quorum on redistricting

| Importance: 10/10

52 Texas House Democrats fled to Illinois to break quorum and prevent a vote on unprecedented mid-cycle redistricting that would create 5 new safe Republican congressional seats, echoing 2003 and 2021 walkouts but this time leaving state to avoid federal law enforcement. At least 51 Democratic …

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Supreme Court Expands Louisiana Redistricting Case to Challenge Section 2 of Voting Rights Act

| Importance: 10/10

The Supreme Court took the extraordinary step of expanding the legal questions in Louisiana v. Callais (Nos. 24-109, 24-110), ordering supplemental briefs on whether creating majority-minority districts to remedy Voting Rights Act violations violates the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments. The …

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Six Democratic states form redistricting defense pact

| Importance: 6/10

New York, Illinois, Oregon, Washington, Maryland, and New Jersey announce coordinated mid-cycle redistricting efforts to counter Republican gerrymandering, effectively ending the constitutional norm of decennial redistricting tied to census.

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California announces defensive mid-cycle redistricting in response to Texas

| Importance: 10/10

Governor Newsom announces plan to redraw California congressional maps to “put a stake in the heart” of Trump’s Texas redistricting, stating “We can sit on the sidelines and talk about the way the world should be, or we could recognize the existential nature that is this …

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Allen v. Milligan reaffirms Voting Rights Act §2; orders additional majority-Black district in Alabama

| Importance: 9/10

The Supreme Court held that Alabama’s congressional map likely violated §2 of the Voting Rights Act and ordered a remedy adding a second majority-Black district. The ruling preserved the Thornburg v. Gingles framework for vote-dilution claims, affecting redistricting nationally.

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