AP Photo/Eric Gay, File
In this May 30, 2013 file photo, Texas state Senator Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa looks at maps on display prior to a Senate Redistricting committee hearing, in Austin, Texas. The U.S. Supreme Court handed Texas a victory Monday, April 4, 2016, upholding the state's system of drawing legislative voting districts based on everyone who lives there, not just registered voters.
In its Evenwel v. Abbott ruling this month, the Supreme Court rejected a conservative voting-rights challenge that could have triggered partisan redistricting fights nationwide. Advocates of "one person, one vote" cheered, but the ruling may invite further challenges, and spotlights problematic originalist impulses on the Court. Carl Klarner and Daniel Smith examine Evenwel's legal impact, and Scott Lemieux tackles what Justice Clarence Thomas's originalism means for the ruling and for the Court.
DANIEL A. SMITH & CARL KLARNER
The Battle Over "One Person, One Vote," Has Just Begun
After the Supreme Court's politically consequential decision in Evenwel v. Abbott this month, supporters of the principle of "one-person, one vote" breathed a sigh of relief. The Court unanimously ruled that states may continue to draw legislative districts based on total population, instead of on a new standard-the number of registered or eligible voters-that would have excluded non-citizen immigrants, youth under 18, people who are or were incarcerated, and anyone else not registered to vote.
The ruling stymied a challenge brought by conservative activists in Texas who set out to upend the practice of apportioning legislative districts based on population, which had been settled law for five decades. A ruling in the challengers' favor could have triggered mass redrawing of legislative district lines around the country, most likely to the advantage of Republicans. Read More.
The Limits of Originalism
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas recently issued two rather remarkable opinions that challenge landmark rulings of the liberal Warren Court, one directly and the other implicitly. The solo opinions-one on voting rights, the other on the right to criminal representation-may not portend major changes in the law for the immediate future. But together, the two opinions display the unworkability of Thomas's influential brand of originalism, and they also show how radical an agenda a Supreme Court controlled by contemporary Republicans could pursue.
Having blocked any consideration of Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama's choice to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, Republicans on Capitol Hill have signaled their determination to ensure continued conservative dominance on the Court. On the Supreme Court, "conservative" is often associated with "originalism"- the idea that the constitutional provisions should be interpreted based on their meaning when they were ratified. Thomas is the most prominent advocate of this approach. As his recent opinions illustrate, originalism has a way of subverting the constitutional principles it purports to uphold. Read More.
