Abstract
Though redistricting itself is easy to define, the processes utilized in achieving electoral districts are far from it. Perhaps of all terms related to redistricting, gerrymandering encapsulates the many difficulties of reorganizing political space. Defined as the deliberate manipulation of electoral boundaries to favor one party over another, gerrymandering has been a consistent practice at many levels of the American electoral system giving way to a variety of unique terms such as packing, stacking, and cracking. Though a common and controversial practice, many do not fully understand the meaning of the term as well as its impact. Due to the fact this practice is deliberate to gain advantage for one group over another, US Courts have both willingly and unwillingly facilitated the evolution of the both gerrymandering and redistricting. Therefore, the evolution of the terms used to describe redistricting is uniquely tied to the many court cases that are continually altering and defining the process as a whole. The goals of this chapter are to connect the terms to these court cases to better explain the language of redistricting.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
United States Census Bureau, 1840. (2017). An act providing for apportionment following the 1840 Census (June 25, 1842). Apportionment Legislation 1840 – 1880. https://www.census.gov/history/www/reference/apportionment/apportionment_legislation_1840_-_1880.html. Last accessed 27 Mar 2018.
United States Census Bureau, 1870. (2017). An act providing for apportionment following the 1870 Census (February 2, 1872). Apportionment Legislation 1840–1880. https://www.census.gov/history/www/reference/apportionment/apportionment_legislation_1840_-_1880.html. Last accessed 27 Mar 2018.
United States Census Bureau, 1910. (2017). An act providing for apportionment following the 1910 Census (August 9, 1911). Apportionment Legislation 1890 – Present. https://www.census.gov/history/www/reference/apportionment/apportionment_legislation_1890_-_present.html. Last accessed 27 Mar 2018.
Aleinikoff, T. A., & Issacharoff, S. (1993). Race and redistricting: Drawing constitutional lines after Shaw v. Reno. Michigan Law Review, 92(3), 588.
Archer, J. C., & Shelley, F. M. (1986). American electoral mosaics. Washington, DC: Association of American Geographers.
Barbour, C. (2012). Federal court orders parties in redistricting case to settle on boundaries. madison.com . http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/elections/federal-court-orders-parties-in-redistricting-case-to-settle-on/article_5d20e06e-781e-11e1-bb72-0019bb2963f4.html. Last accessed 4 May 2018.
Bartlett, B. (2014). Enlarging the House of Representatives. The New York Times. https://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/07/enlarging-the-house-of-representatives/. Last accessed 3 May 2018.
Brennan Center for Justice. (2018). Brennan Center for Justice. https://www.brennancenter.org/legal-work/whitford-v-gill. Last accessed 4 May 2018.
Brunn, S. D., Shelley, F. M., Webster, G. R., & Ahmed, W. M. (2000). Place and region in American legal culture: State origins of landmark supreme court cases. Place and Region in American Legal, 28, 134–156.
Buchanan, S. E. (2008). The effects of the abolition of the Georgia county-unit system on the 1962 gubernatorial election. Southeastern Political Review, 25(4), 687–704.
Cameron, D. (2017). Here’s how the Supreme Court could decide whether your vote will count. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/politics/courts-law/gerrymander/?utm_term=.135c46a2c472. Last accessed 6 May 2018.
Canon, D., & Egar, W. (2014). The Apportionment Act of 1842: Principle or interest? APW Papers. https://apw.polisci.wisc.edu/APW_Papers/ApportionmentActof1842.pdf. Last accessed 12 Mar 2018.
Casetext. (2018). https://casetext.com/. Last accessed 14 May 2018.
City of Tuskegee, Alabama map. (1960). Tuskegee University archives repository. http://archive.tuskegee.edu/archive/bitstream/handle/123456789/732/MapGerrymander364.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. Last accessed 14 May 2018.
Coenen, D. T. (2017). Gray v Sanders (1963). New Georgia Encyclopedia. https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/government-politics/gray-v-sanders-1963. Last accessed 23 Apr 2018.
Cohn, N., & Bui, Q. (2017). How the new math of gerrymandering works. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/03/upshot/how-the-new-math-of-gerrymandering-works-supreme-court.html?mtrref=undefined&gwh=6A8680787B51046CC88539D5945D3A22&gwt=pay. Last accessed 13 May 2018.
Constitutional Right. (1946). Constitutional right to congressional districts of equal population. 1946. The Yale Law Journal, 56(1), 127–139.
Daley, D. (2016). Ratfucked: The true story behind the secret plan to steal America’s democracy. New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation.
Davidson, C. (1992). The voting rights act: A brief history. In Controversies in minority voting: The voting rights act in perspective. Washington, DC: Brookings.
Eisler, K. I. (1993). A justice for all: William J. Brennan, Jr., and the decisions that transformed America. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Engstrom, R. L. (2014). Shelby County v. Holder and the gutting of federal preclearance of election law changes. Politics, Groups, and Identities, 2(3), 530–548.
Engstrom, R. L., McCool, D. C., Chapa, J., & Webster, G. R. (2015). Social science expert witness testimony in voting rights cases. National Political Science Review, 17(1), 97–120.
Fall General Election. (2012). Wisconsin voter turnout statistics | Wisconsin Elections Commission. http://elections.wi.gov/elections-voting/results/2012/fall-general. Last accessed 17 May 2018.
Flores, N. (2004). A history of one-winner districts for congress. The Electoral College – Controversial Elections. http://archive.fairvote.org/library/history/flores/index.html. Last accessed 1 May 2018.
Fortuna, T. (2011). Black citizens boycott white merchants for U.S. voting rights, Tuskegee, Alabama, 1957–1961. Global Nonviolent Action Database. https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/black-citizens-boycott-white-merchants-us-voting-rights-tuskegee-alabama-1957-1961. Last accessed 17 May 2018.
Founders Online: Memoranda of Consultations with the President. (2018). 11 March–9 Apr … National archives and records administration. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-23-02-0219. Last accessed 15 Apr 2018.
Fourgere, J., Anolabehere, S., & Persily, N. (2010). Partisanship, public opinion, and redistricting. Election Law Journal, 9(4), 325–347.
Grofman, B. (1990). Unsolved issues in partisan gerrymandering litigation. In Political gerrymandering and the courts (pp. 3–9). New York: Agathon Press.
Grofman, B., Handley, L., & Niemi, R. G. (1992). Minority representation and the quest for voting equality. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Haggard, R. F. (2000). The papers of George Washington news. GW Papers. http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/2.pdf. Last accessed 15 Apr 2018.
Handley, L., Grofman, B., Arden, W. (1998). Electing minority-preferred candidates to legislative office. In Race and redistricting in the 1990s (pp. 13–38). New York: Agathon Press.
Hunter, T. R. (2011). The first gerrymander? Early American Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 9(3), 781–820.
James, E. J. (1897). The first apportionment of Federal Representatives in the United States. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 9, 1–41.
Keane, M. (2016). Redistricting in Wisconsin. https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/misc/lrb/redistricting_information/redistricting_2016.pdf. Last accessed 4 May 2018.
Klas, M. E. (2011). What’s behind ‘retrogression’? The big word that’s become focus of redistricting debate. Naked Politics. http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2011/11/whats-behind-retrogresssion-the-big-word-thats-become-focus-of-redistricting-debate.html. Last accessed 17 Apr 2018.
Kosterlitz, M. J. (1987). Thornburg v. Gingles: The Supreme Court’s new test for analyzing minority vote dilution. Catholic University Law Review, 36(2), 531–563.
Lawrence, C. N., & Huffmon, S. H. (2014). Keeping up with the congressmen: Evaluating constituents’ awareness of redistricting. Social Science Quarterly, 96(1), 65–75.
Leib, J. I. (1998). Communities of interest and minority districting after Miller v. Johnson. Political Geography, 17(6), 683–699.
Leib, J. I., & Webster, G. R. (1998). On enlarging the US House of Representatives. Political Geography, 17(3), 319–329.
Livni, E. (2017). What’s at stake in the most important Supreme Court case of the year. Quartz. https://qz.com/1093251/gill-vs-whitford-the-supreme-court-case-on-gerrymandering-might-be-the-most-important-of-the-year/. Last accessed 5 May 2018.
Maltz, E. M. (2011). Constitutional spotlight series. 1 May.
Marley, P. (2013). Legal costs for GOP redistricting plan top $2 million. ‘Scatman’ paces marathon record-setter. http://archive.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/legal-costs-for-gop-redistricting-plan-top-2-million-b99133178z1-230278471.html. Last accessed 4 May 2018.
Martis, K. C. (2008). The original gerrymander. Political Geography, 27(8), 833–839.
Mast, T. (1994). History of single-member districts for congress. The Electoral College – Controversial Elections. http://archive.fairvote.org/reports/monopoly/contents.html. Last accessed 1 May 2018.
McBride, A. (2007). The Supreme Court. Expanding Civil Rights. Landmark cases. Reynolds v. Sims (1964) | PBS. THIRTEEN – MEDIA WITH IMPACT. https://www.thirteen.org/wnet/supremecourt/rights/landmark_reynolds.html. Last accessed 3 May 2018.
McGlone, D. (2016). Measuring district compactness in PostGIS. Azavea – Beyond Dots on a Map. https://www.azavea.com/blog/2016/07/11/measuring-district-compactness-postgis/. Last accessed 15 May 2018.
Mordfin, R. I. (2017). Proving partisan gerrymandering with the efficiency gap | University of Chicago Law School. Why Do People Obey the Law? | University of Chicago Law School. https://www.law.uchicago.edu/news/proving-partisan-gerrymandering-efficiency-gap. Last accessed 17 May 2018.
Morison, S. E., & Commager, H. S. (1962). The growth of the American Republic. New York: Oxford University Press.
NCSL. (2018). Redistricting and the Supreme Court: The most significant cases. http://www.ncsl.org/research/redistricting/redistricting-and-the-supreme-court-the-most-significant-cases.aspx. Last accessed 22 April 2018.
Norrell, R. J. (1986). Reaping the whirlwind: The civil rights movement in Tuskegee. New York: Vintage Books.
Parker, F. R. (1995). Shaw v. Reno: A constitutional setback for minority representation. PS: Political Science & Politics, 28(01), 47–50.
Pollack, L. H. (1962). Judicial power and “the Politics of the People”. The Yale Law Journal, 71, 81–89.
Polsby, D. D., & Popper, R. (1991). The third criterion: Compactness as a procedural safeguard against partisan gerrymandering. SSRN Electronic Journal, 9, 301–353.
Prokop, A. (2018). Pennsylvania’s new congressional district map will be a huge help for Democrats. Vox. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/21/17032936/pennsylvania-congressional-districts-2018. Last accessed 6 May 2018.
Redistricting Attachments. (2011). Wisconsin legislature: 146.819. http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2011/related/rd. Last accessed 12 May 2018.
Reock, E. C. (1961). Measuring compactness as a requirement of legislative apportionment. Midwest Journal of Political Science, 5(1), 70–74.
Schwartz, B. (1997). How Justice Brennan changed America. In Reason and passion: Justice Brennan’s enduring influence. New York: Norton.
SCOTUS blog. (2018). Gill v. Whitford. 2018. SCOTUSblog. http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/gill-v-whitford/. Last accessed 5 May 2018.
Smith, D. G. (1997). An analysis of two federal structures: The articles of confederation and the constitution. San Diego Law Review, 34, 249–340.
Smith, E. C., & Zurcher, A. J. (1968). Dictionary of American politics. New York: Barnes & Noble.
Stephanopoulos, N., & McGhee, E. (2015). Partisan gerrymandering and the efficiency gap. University of Chicago Law Review, 82, 831–900.
Taper, B. (2003). Gomillion versus lightfoot: The right to vote in apartheid Alabama. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.
Voting Rights Act of (1965). Pub. L. 89-110, 79 Stat. 437.
Webster, G. R. (1997). The potential impact of recent Supreme Court decisions on the use of race and ethnicity in the redistricting process. Cities, 14(1), 13–19.
Webster, G. R. (2013). Reflections on current criteria to evaluate redistricting plans. Political Geography, 32, 3–14.
Williamson, R. A. (1984). The 1982 amendments to the voting rights act: A statutory analysis of the revised bailout provisions. Washington University Law Revie w, 6(1), 1–77.
Wood, G. S. (1969). Representation in the American revolution. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Weichelt, R., Webster, G.R. (2020). Language of Reorganizing Electoral Space. In: Brunn, S., Kehrein, R. (eds) Handbook of the Changing World Language Map. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02438-3_126
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02438-3_126
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-02437-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-02438-3
eBook Packages: Social SciencesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences