Cellphone ban, pregnancy accommodations among issues facing Statehouse debate
Indiana lawmakers returned to the Statehouse this week after deadlines last week on advancing bills for action during the second half of this year’s legislative session.
Redistricting
Articles
Indiana redistricting critics keeping up push for changes
Critics of how Indiana politicians dice up the state for congressional and legislative districts know they are running out of time for changing that process with the once-a-decade U.S. census less than three months away.
Redistricting reform advocates pushing for transparency
Redistricting reform advocates are taking a slightly different approach at the Republican-controlled Indiana Legislature this year, as they make more transparency the priority ahead of lines being redrawn in 2021.
Teacher pay, health care costs to feature in 2020 legislative debate
With the start of the 2020 legislative session about a month away, party leaders are formulating their plans for the short session, with teacher pay continuing to be a point of contention.
Faegre team’s gerrymandering win vacated by U.S. Supreme Court
The fight over Michigan’s redistricting, litigated in part by a team from the Indianapolis office of Faegre Baker Daniels, ended Monday with an order from the U.S. Supreme Court vacating a lower court’s ruling that gerrymandering based on political affiliation violates the Constitution.
Plaintiffs challenge Mich. redistricting panel’s independence
The release of emails in the gerrymandering lawsuit brought by the League of Women Voters spurred Michigan residents to strip their legislators of redistricting duties and turn the mapmaking over to an independent commission. However, a new federal lawsuit is challenging the new body, asserting the exclusion of certain individuals violates the First and 14th amendments.
Long partisan gerrymandering fight ends, but struggle continues
For a team of Indiana lawyers who successfully litigated a case contesting partisan gerrymandering in Michigan, a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision was a disappointment that likely will vacate the judgment in their favor. Legal observers say the issue now will be fought in statehouses across the country.
5-4 Supreme Court won’t block districts drawn for partisan gain
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled federal courts have no role to play in policing political districts drawn for partisan gain. The decision could embolden political line-drawing for partisan gain when state lawmakers undertake the next round of redistricting after the 2020 census.
ACLU asks U.S. Supreme Court to allow Ohio remap process
Attorneys who gained a federal ruling to throw out Ohio’s congressional map are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to let procedures move forward to redraw House districts.
High court questions judiciary’s role in partisan redistricting
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority sounded wary Tuesday of allowing federal judges to determine when electoral maps are too partisan, despite strong evidence that the political parties drew districts to guarantee congressional election outcomes.
A more skeptical high court to hear redistricting challenge
Last year, proponents of limiting partisan politics in the creation of electoral districts needed to win over Justice Anthony Kennedy. They couldn’t.
Critics say Indiana redistricting bill doesn’t do enough
An Indiana bill that would change the state’s redistricting rules doesn’t do enough to end gerrymandering, critics say. The bill sponsored by Republican Sen. Greg Walker of Columbus would allow lawmakers to continue drawing the state’s legislative and congressional district maps for the foreseeable future.
Judges: N.C. congressional districts still partisan biased
Federal judges on Monday affirmed their earlier decision striking North Carolina’s congressional districts as unconstitutional because Republicans drew them with excessive partisanship. The Tarheel State is one of several in which lawsuits are challenging partisan gerrymandering.
Lawyers scrambling after SCOTUS sidesteps gerrymandering
When presented with one of the most consequential cases of the 2017 term, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments, then heard more oral arguments before issuing an opinion in mid-June that essentially sidestepped the issue.
Justices: No definitive ruling on partisan districts
The U.S. Supreme Court is resolving partisan redistricting cases from Wisconsin and Maryland without ruling on the broader issue of whether electoral maps can give an unfair advantage to a political party.
Another key redistricting case goes in front of high court
The Supreme Court of the United States has already heard a major case about political line-drawing that has the potential to reshape American politics. Now, before even deciding that one, the court is taking up another similar case.
Gerrymandering challenges keep rising
Attorneys at Faegre Baker Daniels LLP are part of the legal team representing Michigan voters who filed a complaint in December over partisan gerrymandering. The suit brought to seven the number of such challenges filed since 2016 and fueled hope that the U.S. Supreme Court will rule the practice unconstitutional and offer guidance for how to draw district lines.
Indiana Senate panel backs redistricting ‘baby step’
An Indiana Senate panel has advanced a bill what would set criteria for redrawing electoral districts. But the measure approved on an 8-0 vote Monday fell far short of a comprehensive redistricting overhaul that good government groups have sought for years.
High court rejects Texas Democrats’ gerrymandering complaint
The U.S. Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal from the Texas Democratic Party charging that the Republican-controlled Legislature illegally gerrymandered the state’s electoral maps.
Indiana lawmaker wants political maps drawn independently
A northwestern Indiana lawmaker wants an independent commission to draw political-district maps instead of politicians.