The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 1, 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.

Three federal court actions last week in South Carolina, North Carolina and Florida cases let stand racially-gerrymandered maps diluting Black voting power.  Those diluted maps neutralize the voice of Black voters in those districts for 2024. 

The majority minority North Florida 5th Congressional district was reconfigured by a map proposed by Governor Ron DeSantis into a white majority district.  That map was later struck down by a lower federal court.  Democracy Docket reports that March 27th, a federal district judge held that the plaintiffs did not prove Florida legislators intended to racially gerrymander the maps, and dismissed the case.   A Florida Supreme Court case is still pending.

Also March 27th, a federal appeals panel affirmed a decision over a new North Carolina Senate district which dismantled a former majority minority opportunity district.  The majority of the panel said it was too close to the election, and allowed it to stay through November 2024.

A U.S. Supreme Court case from South Carolina STILL doesn’t have an opinion. So with the June 11th state primary imminent, a lower court allowed a Congressional map diluting Black voting power to be used  for  2024.  The legislature had argued that it didn’t racially gerrymander, it gerrymandered for partisan reasons, which SCOTUS ruled in 2019 was an inherently state political issue. 

We have links to the decisions at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Democracy Docket – Federal Court Upholds Florida’s Congressional Map That Eliminated Historically-Black District
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA (via Democracy Docket) – Decision in Common Cause Florida v. Byrd
Democracy Docket – 4th Circuit Declines to Block New North Carolina Senate Map for 2024 Elections
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT  (via Democracy Docket) – Decision in Pierce v. North Carolina Board of Elections
Democracy Docket – South Carolina Will Use Gerrymandered Congressional Map in 2024, District Court Rules
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF SOUTH CAROLINA (via Democracy Docket) – Decision in South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP v. Alexander

Groups Taking Action:
South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP,  Common Cause Florida, Common Cause NC, NAACP Legal Defense Fund

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #FairMaps #RaciallGerrymandering

The post Federal Courts Leave Racially Gerrymandered South Carolina, North Carolina & Florida Maps in Place for 2024 Election appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Oct. 24, 2023

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.

Oct.19th, the North Carolina Senate Redistricting Committee presented its latest Congressional redistricting maps.  After three years of wrangling, including two state supreme court cases and a U.S. Supreme Court case, it’s now MORE gerrymandered than its original 2021 map. 

When conservatives took control of the North Carolina Supreme Court this spring, they immediately overturned decisions made by the previous court which threw out the 2021 proposal as unconstitutional, and ordered a more competitive map. That map had 6 Democratic-leaning seats, 7 Republican-leaning seats and 1 highly competitive seat. Conservatives argued that they should have had a 9 to 5 GOP advantage.

That map was challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court’s Moore v. Harper, the independent state legislature case. Justices shot down the fringe ISL theory, but the state court later vacated the competitive map, leaving it again to a legislature drunk on partisan power to draw the maps.

Last week, two new gerrymandered proposals abandoned any pretense of competitive districts.  Analysis by WFAE Public Radio shows one version packing Republicans into 11 districts and Democrats into three, and in the second, packing Republicans into 10 districts, Democrats into three, and one toss up.  

Whichever map is chosen, it’s likely to face a court challenge, but pending a decision, it may be in place for the 2024 election. 

We have links to the maps, analysis, and groups taking action at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
FiveThirtyEight – Analysis of North Carolina’s 2021 and 2022 Congressional Redistricting Maps
Brennan Center for Justice – Moore v. Harper, Explained
North Carolina Legislature – LEGISLATIVE AND CONGRESSIONAL REDISTRICTING
BallotPedia – North Carolina Supreme Court vacates state’s congressional, legislative maps
NC Newsline – Plans for new NC congressional districts would elect more Republicans to Congress
WFAE Public Radio – After aggressive gerrymandering, a look at what’s next and who is ‘toast’ in North Carolina
Associated Press – North Carolina Republicans pitch Congress maps that could help them pick up 3 or 4 seats next year

Groups Taking Action:
Common Cause NC, Democracy North Carolina, North Carolina Black Alliance, Action NC, League of Women Voters NC 

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter and SHARE!  

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

Want ADM sent to your email?  Sign up here!

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #Gerrymandering #RacialGerrymandering #FairMaps #NorthCarolinaPolitics

The post The North Carolina Legislature’s Congressional Maps Go From Gerrymandered to Fair to Even More Gerrymandered in Two Years appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Feb. 24, 2023

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
New Hampshire House/Legiscan – HB 324 Voter-Owned Elections
Open Democracy Action – One Pager on Small Donor, Voter-Owned Elections
PBS Wisconsin/AP – Protasiewicz, Kelly advance in 2023 Wisconsin Supreme Court primary
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – Janet Protasiewicz, Daniel Kelly advance in high stakes, high-spending Supreme Court race
Democracy Docket – North Carolina Supreme Court Will Rehear Two Voting Rights Cases With New GOP Majority
Democracy Docket – North Carolina Republicans File Brief in Redistricting Case Being Reheard by State Supreme Court
Slate – Unfortunately, the Biggest Election Case of the Supreme Court Term Could Be Moot
Scotus Blog – Court seems unwilling to embrace broad version of “independent state legislature” theory

Groups Taking Action:
NH – Open Democracy Action,  League of Women Voters NH
WI – Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition,  Groups List of groups supporting fair maps in Wisconsin
NC – Common Cause NC,  League of Conservation Voters NC, Campaign Legal Center

Today’s Script:  (Variations occur with audio due to editing for time)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

We’re updating breaking Democracy stories we’ve covered recently, ranging from Voter-Owned Elections in New Hampshire, to the Supreme Court elections in Wisconsin and the Moore v. Harper case in North Carolina.

First to New Hampshire, where the state House last week voted down the HB 324 Voter-Owned Election bill, 200 to 163.  The bill would have created an optional small donor “Voter-Dollars” system for funding the state’s gubernatorial and Executive Council races.

On to Wisconsin’s supreme court election, where Tuesday, voters chose one liberal and one conservative to move forward to the general election on April 4th.  Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz, an outspoken critic of gerrymandered maps approved by the current court, was the top vote-getter at 46%.  She was followed by former state Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly at 24%.   Should Wisconsin’s gerrymandered maps be overturned, it could have a dramatic impact on the makeup of the state’s legislature & Congressional seats.

In the North Carolina Supreme Court, March 14th has been set to rehear the Harper v. Hall Congressional district gerrymandering case.  The highly-irregular rehearing caused a sitting justice to call it a “display of raw partisanship.  The case spawned the Moore v. Harper “independent state legislature” case in the U.S. Supreme Court.  A new North Carolina court may overturn the earlier decision striking down the maps, but it’s unclear whether Moore v. Harper will rendered moot. 

We have more details at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.   I’m Brian Beihl.

The post <strong>Democracy News Updates from New Hampshire, Wisconsin & North Carolina</strong> appeared first on American Democracy Minute.