The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 8, 2024
Today’s Script
(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.
Today, we’re looking at a principle called the “Gingles Test” that federal courts use when determining whether a gerrymandered redistricting map is a violation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. How that test is interpreted can determine whether minority voters can elect the candidate of their choice, or their vote is diluted by an anti-voter state legislature.
A group of Black voters sued the North Carolina legislature in 1982, arguing their voting districts violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act by diluting their vote and keeping Black North Carolinians from electing the candidate of their choice.
Before it came to trial, Congress clarified the VRA to say intentional discrimination didn’t need to be proved, just the EFFECT of discrimination was enough to be a violation of Section 2.
Thornburg v. Gingles created a three part test for federal courts to use when considering whether a VRA violation had occurred. It stipulates:
- The minority group is sufficiently large and geographically compact to constitute a majority in a single-member district;
- The minority group is politically cohesive, usually voting the same way; and
- The white majority votes sufficiently as a bloc, usually defeating the minority’s preferred candidate.
As shown in the recent overturning of Louisiana’s new Congressional map with a second majority minority district, the interpretation of “geographically compact” and “politically cohesive” still leaves wiggle room for discrimination.
We have more on Gingles and the VRA at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.
Today’s Links
Articles & Resources:
BallotPedia – Thornburg v. Gingles
Charis Franklin, Fordham University Law – From Poll Tests To The Purcell Doctrine: Merrill V. Milligan And The Precarious Preservation Of Voting Rights
The American Redistricting Project – Thornburg v. Gingles (1986)
Brennan Center for Justice – Breaking Down the Supreme Court’s Voting Rights Act Decision Out of Alabama
Louisiana Illuminator – Federal court tosses Landry-backed Louisiana congressional map
Groups Taking Action:
NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Campaign Legal Center, ACLU, Native American Rights Fund
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