The Southern Coalition for Social Justice filed an Amicus Brief with the United States Supreme Court in Harris v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission. The Supreme Court, in Harris, is deciding whether partisan political gain justifies deviation from the one-person, one-vote principle of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The lower court in Arizona assumed, but did not decide, that partisanship was not a legitimate interest but held that other factors influenced the drawing of legislative districts in Arizona. We argue (and do not support either party in this case) that political partisanship is an inappropriate method of determining the weight of a citizen’s vote and only non-arbitrary, traditional redistricting principles may result in deviations from absolute population equality.
As a friend of the Court, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice highlighted current cases SCSJ is involved in where partisanship is attempting to deviate from the one-person, one-vote principle and how political interests fly in the face of ensuring that voters have an equal voice when they cast a ballot. The Brief reads, “Holding that manipulating population deviations to discriminate against voters of a particular political party is a legitimate governmental interest would strike a fatal blow to fundamental fairness and the opportunity of all voters to participate equally in the political process.”
We expect the Supreme Court to issue a ruling in Harris in its term next year.
