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SCOTUS Sets Date for Wisconsin Gerrymandering Case

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Shawn M GriffithsShawn M Griffiths
Published: 20 Jul, 2017
1 min read

The Supreme Court of the United States has released its October oral argument calendar. Bloomberg SCOTUS reporter Greg Stohr tweeted the cases that will be heard, which includes the Wisconsin gerrymandering case, Gill v. Whitford:

https://twitter.com/GregStohr/status/887733773827289099

SCOTUS decided in June to hear the case. It also stayed a lower court's order that the Wisconsin legislature redraw its state Assembly districts by November.

The lower district court found that the electoral districts were so politically skewed in favor of the Republican Party, they violated the voting rights of voters outside the party. It was the first time a court ruled electoral districts were unconstitutional because of the political motivations behind the mapmaking.

With new statistical methods being used to show how bad partisan gerrymandering is in several states, like the efficiency gap, SCOTUS may now have the measurable standard to determine a partisan gerrymander that they didn't have in Vieth v. Jubelirer (2004).

Photo Credit: W. Scott McGill / shutterstock.com

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