The Constitution and the 2022 Election
The Constitution requires seats in the House be reapportioned every ten years. Further, thanks to the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, districts must be redrawn every ten years to produce districts roughly equal in population. 2022 was the first election after the 2020 census, so we saw states rush to redraw their districts and maps in several states challenged in federal courts on constitutional grounds. 2022 was also the first redistricting cycle that occurred after the Supreme Court in Rucho v. Common Cause (2019), which ruled that partisan gerrymandering was not a justiciable issue. This allowed states to pass more aggressive gerrymanders and lead to more court challenges of state congressional maps.
Instructors: click the link below to download this week’s lecture for use in your classroom. The deck contains a writing prompt and a debate question as well as other assessment questions.
Download: The Constitution and the 2022 Election
Videos
News Articles
US House Loses More Swing in 2022
NPR
05/29/2022
https://www.npr.org/2022/05/29/1100980188/u-s-house-loses-more-swing-in-2022
How Republicans Flipped Four House Seats in New York
New York Times
11/09/2022
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/09/nyregion/ny-house-races-redistricting.html
Ohio Supreme Court Scraps 2nd GOP Drawn Congressional Map
Politico
07/19/2022
What Redistricting Looks Like Across the Country
CNN
11/08/2022
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2022/politics/us-redistricting/
How Redistricting is Reshaping the 2022 US House Map
Washington Post
12/16/2021
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/redistricting-tracker-map/
Redistricting is Done for 2022- And It Is Still Terribly Unfair
The Hill
06/08/2022
Assessments
Debate: Who should redraw congressional districts?
How should the courts determine if a partisan gerrymander has occurred?
Poll: Should the Federal Courts be allowed to overturn partisan gerrymanders?
Should malapportioned districts be considered unconstitutional?
Short Answer: Why does redistricting occur every ten years?
