Voting Rights Act of 1965

The history of “gerrymandering” started during the term of Elbridge Gerry, the Governor of Massachusetts, when he approved an obscure redistricting plan ahead of the 1812 elections that helped Republicans hold on to power in the legislature. One of the redistricted districts that primarily consisted of a one party defendant was shaped as a salamander, which later gave rise to this political term (Keck, 2010). The term relates to the drawing of the boundaries of electoral districts in a way that gives one party an unfair advantage over its rivals, which gives rise to the disproportionate representation of Democratic and Republican parties (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2013). Historically, both parties have used this form of redistricting to keep their respective parties in congress and state houses.

The Supreme Court reviewed the concept of partisan gerrymandering when redistricting favors the incumbents in both the Democratic and Republican Parties in several critical cases. Later on, it became a salient practice in the 2000 redistricting process which created some of the most non-competitive redistricting plans in American history (Issacharoff, Karlan, & Pildes, p. 828)

In Gaffney v. Cummings (1973) the Supreme Court reviewed a Connecticut redistricting plan that had been held unconstitutional by the District Court. The plan had drawn roughly equal districts, but had taken into account municipal lines as well as political fairness resulting in a deviation in districts. The plan also was consciously and overtly adopted, followed a policy of political fairness. At the district level the court held, the deviations from equality of populations of the Senate and House districts are not justified by any sufficient state interest and that ...

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...ply established that to have standing in a racial gerrymandering the plaintiff must reside in the district that’s being challenged. The plaintiffs in Hays did not reside in the challenged district so the Court remanded the case with instructions to dismiss for lack of standing.

Works Cited

Encyclopedia Britannica. (2013, August 1). Gerrymandering.

Issacharoff, S., Karlan, P. S., & Pildes, R. H. (2012). The Law of Democracy: Legal Structure of the Political Process (4th ed.). Foundation Press.

Keck, K. (2010, February 26). History has drawn skewed image of the father of 'gerrymandering'. Retrieved April 5, 2014, from CNN Politics: http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/26/profile.gerrymandering/index.html

The James Irvine Foundation . (n.d.). What is Redistricting. Retrieved April 15, 2014, from Redistricting CA: http://www.redistrictingca.org/what-is-redistricting/