Supreme Court will consider race in redistricting in second Arizona case
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The U.S. Supreme Court this week agreed to hear another case concerning Arizona’s independent redistricting commission.
The court granted cert in Harris v. Independent Redistricting Commission on Tuesday, just one day after upholding the constitutionality of the commission, report the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.), SCOTUSblog, the Hill and Capitol Media Services.
Challengers in the case contend the commission violated the concept of one man, one vote by packing Republican voters into overpopulated districts in state races to give minorities an advantage in Democratic districts.
One of the issues in the case is whether districts that violate the one man, one vote principle could have been created out of desire to obtain preclearance review by the Justice Department; the preclearance requirement is no longer in effect because of a 2013 Supreme Court ruling.
University of Oklahoma political scientist Keith Gaddie told the Wall Street Journal the court may have taken the case to clarify the extent that redistricting can take into account minority voters. Currently, Gaddie said, states are at risk of lawsuits “for considering race too much and sued for not considering it enough.”
The U.S. Supreme Court has already agreed to consider the principle of one-man, one-vote in another pending case that asks whether state legislative districts should be based on the number of eligible voters or the overall population.
