Publication Date
Winter 2019
Abstract
This article will accomplish two tasks. First, it will address how political gerrymandering presents a hybrid-question for courts—a political and a constitutional question grounded in the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Second, this article will discuss two diverging challenges: the first being the federal challenges under the United States Constitution in Gill v. Whitford and Benisek v. Lamone, and the second being the Pennsylvania state constitutional challenge in League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania. Ultimately, this article seeks to provide a roadmap for successful challenges to political gerrymandering. Although federal remedies appear limited, this article argues that gerrymandering can be successfully measured, challenged, and cured in state courts and by state legislatures.
Acknowledgements
Taylor would like to thank Professor Julie Smith, Director of the Drake University Law School Legislative Practice Center, and Brittany Lumley, Managing Director of Government Affairs at LS2group for reviewing and providing commentary. She would also like to thank her parents and her boyfriend Riley for their support, as well as her dog Jack; Joshua would like to thank Professor Anthony Gaughan of Drake University Law School for providing insight throughout the writing process, Ryan Haltom for his support while writing, as well as his family and loved ones for their support and encouragement.
Recommended Citation
Taylor Larson & Joshua A. Duden,
The Ballot Box: A Pathway to Greater Success in Addressing Political Gerrymandering Through State Courts,
22
CUNY L. Rev.
104
(2019).
Available at:
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/clr/vol22/iss1/13