Has the issue of gerrymandered districts ever come before the court as being a violation of one-man/one-vote, or something similar? Especially today, when we could create virtually identically sized voting districts, such that every district is not only approximately equal but virtually so, and each district could be mandated to be designed for maximum efficiency rather than for political purposes, I’d assume that someone has sued to have congressional districts drawn by non-partisans with these goals, rather than political goals in mind. What happens when someone tries to sue? Obviously “very little” but what’s the thinking in rejecting these suits from being heard or in ruling that gerrymandering is ok?
Suits have been filed by various groups related to gerrymandering.
The website of Fairvote.org provides an overview of four broad categories of lawsuits related to redistricting:
[ol][li]Timeliness. Populations of districts change over time and not all states require immediate redistricting after a census. This could leave one district with many more people than another.[/li][li]Vote Dilution. An allegation that district lines are drawn to dilute the voting power of a particular group such as a racial or ethnic minority.[/li][li]Who to count and where. Should district lines be drawn in relation to the overall population? only the voting age population? only the citizen population? some other benchmark? should students and/or prisoners be counted at their normal home or at their institutional residence?[/li][li] Redistricting process. Lawsuits over who should draw the new boundaries. That could be disputes over how to appoint members of a redistricting committee.[/li][/ol]
Both political parties engage in efforts to influence the map to their advantage. And both political parties have been accused of racial gerrymandering. Gerrymandering to keep persons of like religious affiliation together may also be an issue.
IIRC, the courts have even mandated gerrymandering. One article I read made fun of a 10-mile stretch of interstate with no inhabitants, connecting two parts of a congressional district. In this case, the purpose was to concentrate enough black voters so they could elect a black congressman, since the court found the simple geographic districts were alternately gerrymandered to ensure a minority black and majority white population in each district. (point 2 above).
If say, a city center is split into pie-shaped chunks attached to the neighbouring lily-white suburb, that’s obviously dilution.
I suppose it’s debatable, though, whether it’s better to adopt the “blind justice” role or have a district designated “black” and including mainly neighbourhoods of one minority in there.
Of course, the point of the court intervention was that the mixed districts were the opposite of “blind justice”, they were constructed that way. The point of opposing vote dilution is that a group or neighbourhood (or several adjacent ones) with common interests and demographics should not be split up unless the math makes it entirely unavoidable. This is typically why the courts have gotten involved.
IIRC the issue usually came up a part of the Equal RIghts Voting act, and states that had demostrated deliberate obstruction of racial voting rights were obliged to justify district changes to the courts. So not really “one man one vote”, more “don’t be blocking black voters’ rights”.
The issue has certainly come before the courts. The most recent notable case was probably in 2006, where the US Supreme Court tossed out part of a redistricting plan in Texas because it unfairly weakened the voting rights of Hispanics. The court ruled that any redistricting must comply with the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
There is ample case law on this subject. In Shaw v Reno and Miller v Johnson, SCOTUS ruled that gerrymandering based on racial demographics was illegal. But in Hunt v Cromartie, they decided that decided that political gerrymandering was just fine.
Are you sure you’re not thinking of Arizona’s second district which is gerrymandered to separate a Hopi and Navaho reservation?