The Federal Tap: February 12, 2022
Our weekly summary of federal news highlights an appeals court upholding a block of the federal worker vaccine requirement and redistricting updates in five states. Read all about it in this week’s edition of the Federal Tap.
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Congress is in session
Both the House and Senate are in session next week. Click here to see the full calendar for the second session of the 117th Congress.
SCOTUS is out of session
The Supreme Court will not hear oral arguments next week. To learn about the 2021-2022 term, click here.
Where was the president last week?
On Monday through Wednesday, Biden remained in Washington D.C.
On Thursday, Biden traveled to Culpeper, Virginia, where he delivered remarks regarding health care costs.
On Friday, Biden traveled to Camp David.
President Biden's approval rating for the 54th week of his term was 41.4%, up 0.2 percentage points from the week before. President Trump's approval rating at the same point in his term was 39.6%, up 0.4 percentage points from the week before.
Federal Judiciary
- 78 federal judicial vacancies
- 29 pending nominations
- 40 future federal judicial vacancies
U.S. Supreme Court permits Alabama's new congressional district map; four states enact new congressional maps
Alabama
On Feb. 7, the Supreme Court of the United States stayed a preliminary injunction that a three-judge federal district court panel had issued enjoining Alabama from using the congressional redistricting plan that the state enacted on Nov. 14, 2021. The Supreme Court’s stay means that the congressional district boundaries adopted by the state will be used for the 2022 elections. The Court also granted a petition for a writ of certiorari in the case, meaning that the Court will hear oral arguments regarding the challenge to Alabama’s maps, either this term or next.
The Court’s majority did not post a full opinion in the case. Four of the nine justices wrote or joined in dissenting opinions, meaning the vote to stay the district court’s injunction was 5-4. Justice Kavanaugh wrote a concurring opinion on granting the stay, which was joined by Justice Alito. Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kagan issued dissenting opinions, with Kagan’s dissent joined by Justices Breyer and Sotomayor.
The three-judge federal court panel issued a preliminary injunction on Jan. 24 against Alabama’s congressional map and directed the state legislature to devise a congressional redistricting plan “that includes either an additional majority-Black congressional district, or an additional district in which Black voters otherwise have an opportunity to elect a representative of their choice.” Four sets of plaintiffs had filed lawsuits in November challenging Alabama’s new congressional districts for violating Section Two of the Voting Rights Act.
Connecticut
Connecticut enacted new congressional district boundaries on Feb. 10 when the Connecticut Supreme Court adopted the redistricting plan submitted by the court’s appointed special master. The court appointed the special master on Dec. 23, 2021, and he submitted his proposed redistricting plan to the court on Jan. 18.
The state supreme court assumed control over Connecticut's congressional redistricting on Dec. 21, 2021, after the state Reapportionment Commission failed to complete the process after the court had extended its deadline to that date. Under state law, the Reapportionment Commission had assumed responsibility over congressional redistricting after the state’s Reapportionment Committee failed to meet its statutory Sept. 15, 2021, deadline due to delays in the release of census data.
According to Bloomberg Government's Greg Giroux, the special master's proposed "map moved just 71,736 people into new districts—the minimum number necessary to achieve population equality—and shifted the lines in only four municipalities, all of which are already divided between two districts."
Kansas
Kansas enacted new congressional district boundaries on Feb. 9 when both the state Senate and state House overrode Gov. Laura Kelly's (D) veto of a redistricting plan that the legislature passed. Andrew Bahl of the Topeka Capital-Journal wrote that the "maps were hotly contested, largely for the decision to split Wyandotte County and put part of the Kansas City, Kan., area in the 2nd Congressional District.”
The Kansas House of Representatives overrode Kelly’s veto 85-37 with all votes in favor by Republicans, and 36 Democrats and one Republican voting to sustain the veto. The Senate overrode Kelly’s veto 27-11 on Feb. 8 strictly along party lines. The state Senate originally approved the congressional district map proposal on Jan. 21 and the state House of Representatives approved it on Jan. 26. Kelly had vetoed the congressional map on Feb. 3.
Tennessee
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) signed new congressional districts into law on Feb. 6. Both chambers of the legislature had approved the state’s new district boundaries along party line votes in January. According to Adam Friedman and Melissa Brown of the Nashville Tennessean, the “congressional map divides Davidson County [Nashville] into three separate congressional districts that will dilute the county's Democratic and minority vote.” The Senate approved the proposal 26-5 on Jan. 20, and the House approved it 70-26 on Jan. 24.
Tennessee House Speaker Pro Tempore Pat Marsh (R) said the congressional map was compliant with all federal and state laws and splitting Davidson County was beneficial to the area. “In the last 10 years, Davidson County has had one congressman in Washington, D.C. In this proposed plan, they will have three. I think that’s three times as good, three times more representation,” Marsh said. After the legislature approved the map on Jan. 24, 5th District U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper (D) announced he would not run for re-election: “Despite my strength at the polls, I could not stop the General Assembly from dismembering Nashville.” According to Greg Giroux of Bloomberg Government, the "map transformed the 5th District from a Democratic bastion Joe Biden carried by 24 percentage points in the 2020 election to a Republican-leaning area Donald Trump would have won by 11 points."
Washington
Washington enacted new congressional districts on Feb. 8 when the Washington State Senate approved an amended version of a map proposal drafted by the Washington State Redistricting Commission.
The commission had announced on Nov. 16 that it had not been able to produce new maps by its Nov. 15 deadline and had submitted plans to the Washington Supreme Court for consideration. Under state law, the authority for redistricting passed to the court when the commission failed to agree on maps before the deadline. The court accepted the final map drafts the commission submitted, ruling that it had "substantially complied" with the deadline. The legislature reviewed the maps with the state House of Representatives approving the final proposal on Feb. 2 in an 88-7 vote, and the state Senate approved the plan on 35-14 on Feb. 8.
Congressional redistricting has been completed for 315 of the 435 seats (72.4%) in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Appeals court upholds block of Biden administration’s federal worker vaccine requirement
On Feb. 9, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s injunction on President Joe Biden’s vaccine requirement for federal workers. The court’s vote was 2-1. The injunction was initially issued on Jan. 21 by District Court Judge Jeffrey Brown, who was appointed to the court by Donald Trump (R).
Biden issued the executive order on Sept. 9, 2021, and it was set to take effect on Nov. 22, 2021. It required federal employees to be fully vaccinated, unless they had an approved religious or medical exemption. If an employee did not receive a vaccine or an approved exemption, they could face disciplinary action or have their employment terminated.
This ruling follows several others surrounding the Biden administration’s vaccine policies. Biden’s vaccine requirement for federal workers has been suspended by a federal court injunction since December 2021. In January, the United States Supreme Court reinstated a stay on Biden’s vaccine requirement for companies with more than 100 employees. The Supreme Court also lifted an injunction on Biden’s vaccine requirement for healthcare workers at facilities that participate in the Medicare or Medicaid programs.
Upcoming Article III Judicial Vacancies
According to the latest vacancy data from the U.S. Courts, there were 40 total announced upcoming vacancies for Article III judgeships. Two Article III judges have announced an upcoming vacancy since our last report on Feb. 5. The earliest vacancy announcement was on Jan. 22, 2021, when U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland Judge Ellen Hollander announced she would assume senior status upon the confirmation of her successor. The most recent was on Feb. 8, 2022, when U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York Judge Kiyo Matsumoto announced that she would assume senior status on July 23, 2022. Twenty-three vacancy effective dates have not been determined because the judge has not announced the date they will leave the bench. The next upcoming vacancy will occur on Feb. 14, 2022, when U.S. District Court for the Central District of California Judge Virginia Phillips assumes senior status.
For historical comparison, on Feb. 13, 2021, there were 60 federal judicial vacancies and two upcoming vacancies in the federal judiciary reported by the U.S. Courts.
