Now that it’s clear that efforts to deal with gerrymandering cannot be litigated in federal court, the question is whether state independent redistricting commissions are the best approach to the problem. Another approach would be to adopt a state-wide list system of proportional representation, as described in Bob Davidow’s recent article in the Wayne Law Review. With a state-wide system, there would be no district line to draw -- hence no gerrymandering. The proposed system would not only reduce the amount of money needed for election, but also reduce the influence of the wealthy and well-connected. Demographic changes would not affect the operation of the system. An independent redistricting commission would do none of these things.

This course for those 50 and over will be led by Instructor Bob Davidow, Professor of Law (retired) from George Mason University. He is the author of Response to Gerrymandering.