'The first of many': Democratic redistricting group files preemptive lawsuit in MN, PA, and LA

[TexasTowelie]

‘The first of many’: Democratic redistricting group files preemptive lawsuit in Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Louisiana


A Democratic activist group helmed by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has struck an early blow in what’s expected to be a brutal, nationwide legal battle over congressional redistricting, filing lawsuits in Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Louisiana, asking the judiciary to be ready to step in if mapmakers deadlock.

The lawsuits came just hours after the widely anticipated release of U.S. Census data that will point the way as mapmakers in all 50 states engage in a decennial redraw of congressional and legislative boundaries.

Minnesota barely held on to its eight congressional districts.

In a press call on Tuesday morning, Holder, joined by prominent elections attorney Marc Elias, said his group, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, was moving early to head-off what they expect will be a coordinated effort by Republicans push through gerrymandered maps that will diminish voters’ voices, particularly people of color.

The lawsuits were filed by the National Redistricting Action Fund, a nonprofit allied with Holder’s group, according to The Hill, a publication that covers Congress.

Read more: https://minnesotareformer.com/briefs/the-first-of-many-democratic-redistricting-group-files-preemptive-lawsuit-in-minnesota-pennslyvanian-louisiana/

[ancianita]

1. There should be a another national census, especially if a new state is added.

I'm glad Holder and company are fighting these congressional maps. It's as important as fighting for voting rights.

In Florida, within a month after I'd made myself and husband counted by the online deadline, four census workers showed up at our house to count us again. I took photos of their badge ID's, showed them a screen shot of my being counted and told each to notify their zealous supervisors that they'd better not overcount us or I'd report them to the FBI and DHS.

NPR report of the Urban Institute's projection of undercounts for

-- Black people by 3.68%, or 1.7 million
-- LatinX by 3.57%, or 2.2 million
-- children under age 5 by 6.31%, or 1.3 million

... these projections are based upon what the Urban Institute considers a "high-risk" scenario. Still, John Thompson, a former Census Bureau director who reviewed the report, says that these estimates "may be a little bit on the conservative side."

At the state level, these trends mean that states with more historically undercounted groups — including people of color and renters — are more likely to have inaccurate population counts in 2020. While California, Texas and Nevada face high undercount risks, states with older populations that are more likely to be white and owning homes — including Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and West Virginia – have the greatest potential for being overcounted, according to the institute's analysis. In the 2010 census, for example, white homeowners were overcounted because some with multiple homes were counted incorrectly at multiple addresses.

https://www.npr.org/2019/06/04/728034176/2020-census-could-lead-to-worst-undercount-of-black-latinx-people-in-30-years

[FBaggins]

2. Two good reasons not to do that

1 - we did much better than expected

2 - it would take a constitutional amendment to apply a new census to reapportionment/redistricting.

On edit - 1.5 - it makes us look too much like Trump

[judeling]

3. Why waste the effort in Minnesota?

Minnesota going to go through the commission or the courts just as they have for decades and decades. This is a well worn path that really needs no help at all. The Republican controlled Senate does not have the power to alone do anything but posture.
The only thing here I see is the desire for an easy win.