Fair Representation in Redistricting, the funder collaborative promoting fair district maps, invites funders and philanthropy serving organizations to a virtual briefing Tuesday, July 11, 2:00-3:30PM ET for a conversation on U.S. Supreme Court decisions on three redistricting cases from Alabama, Louisiana, and North Carolina. Join us in celebrating and discussing the Court’s June 8 decision that concluded Alabama diluted the power of Black voters in the state and did not make it harder to use the Voting Rights Act to challenge racial gerrymanders. Other Court cases, soon to be decided, will also be discussed.
In the last decade, the Supreme Court has twice struck down or weakened major portions of the Voting Rights Act, which since 1965 has been a vehicle for eliminating race discrimination. The law recently survived the chopping block in a case – Allen v. Milligan (formerly Merrill v. Milligan) – that challenges the plan for district maps in Alabama as being racially gerrymandered. While more than a quarter of the state’s population is Black, only one of seven congressional districts has any chance of electing a candidate that represents the interests of the Black community. The Supreme Court’s decision in this case has both immediate and longer-term ramifications, as there are 38 current challenges to state and local maps diluting the vote of people of color being brought under the provision of the Voting Rights Act challenged in Milligan and another case from Louisiana, Ardoin v. Robinson.
During the briefing, we’ll also touch on other Supreme Court actions. This includes a North Carolina case, Moore v. Harper, which is likely to be decided in June and is based on an extreme interpretation of the U.S. Constitution that argues congressional elections are controlled by the state legislature (unless overridden by Congress). Depending on how the Supreme Court rules, this could have implications for state courts, Governors, and redistricting commissions. We’ll also discuss a new racial gerrymander case – Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP – that the Supreme Court will hear in October challenging the constitutionality of the state’s new congressional map based on the Equal Protection Clause.
Together, we will analyze the impact of the court’s decisions, which affect many different states and issue areas. And we’ll examine the litigation avenues in play across the country, discuss what comes next as communities of color organize to ensure the Alabama and other state legislatures comply with the Court's decision, share emerging opportunities, and explore the ways that philanthropy can continue to show up to defend and advance fair representation in this moment.
Co-sponsored by AAPI Civic Engagement Fund, Democracy Alliance, Ford Foundation, Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation, The George Gund Foundation, Groundswell Action Fund, The Grove Foundation, Open Society Foundations, State Infrastructure Fund, United Philanthropy Forum, and W. K. Kellogg Foundation.
Register
Please register by July 6th