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Unconstitutional racial gerrymandering
Unconstitutional racial gerrymandering refers to the practice of drawing electoral district lines to dilute the voting power of racial minority groups. In the context of redistricting, federal law prohibits racial gerrymandering. Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 mandates that no "standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color."[1]
Usage
When used in a rhetorical manner by opponents of a particular district map, gerrymandering has a negative connotation but does not necessarily address the legality of a challenged map. In this context, proponents may counter that the map has not been gerrymandered but has been drawn to conform with overlapping, potentially conflicting redistricting standards. The term can also be used in legal proceedings and documents; in this context, the term describes redistricting practices that violate federal or state laws.[2][3]
Background
- See also: Gerrymandering
Federal law establishes that to combat racial gerrymandering and to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act, states and jurisdictions may create majority-minority electoral districts. A majority-minority district is one in which a racial minority group or groups compose a majority of the district's total population. Thornburg v. Gingles, a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1986, established a three-part test for proving whether vote dilution in violation of the Voting Rights Act has occurred in a district:[4]
- A minority group must demonstrate it is large and compact enough to constitute a majority in a single-member district.
- A minority group must demonstrate it is politically cohesive.
- A minority group must demonstrate the majority group votes sufficiently as a group to defeat the minority group’s preferred candidate.[5][6]
For more information on gerrymandering, please see this page.
Footnotes
- ↑ Congressional Research Service, "Congressional Redistricting and the Voting Rights Act: A Legal Overview," April 13, 2015
- ↑ All About Redistricting, "Why does it matter?" accessed April 8, 2015
- ↑ Encyclopædia Britannica, "Gerrymandering," November 4, 2014
- ↑ Congressional Research Service, "Congressional Redistricting and the Voting Rights Act: A Legal Overview," April 13, 2015
- ↑ United States Commission on Civil Rights, "Voting Rights and Political Representation in the Mississippi Delta," accessed June 3, 2015
- ↑ Minnesota Senate, "4. Racial and Ethnic Discrimination," accessed June 3, 2015
Footnotes
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