Touro Law Review BLOG

Summary:

Political gerrymandering – the practice of drawing the boundaries of electoral districts in a way that gives one political party an advantage over its rivals – is in the news nowadays. Indeed, with Texas and California leading the way, it is no exaggeration to say that we are in a gerrymandering arms race. How did we get here? Are there any limits on gerrymandering under federal law? To the extent that federal law is limited regarding the constraints it imposes on gerrymandering, are there other ways to challenge this controversial political practice? Professor Ruth Greenwood discusses these questions on this Touro Law Review podcast, explaining the importance of the Supreme Court’s decision in Rucho v. Common Cause in 2019 and various legal challenges to the federal Voting Rights Act over the years. Her conversation with Associate Dean Rodger Citron provides an instructive overview of election law and thoughts on how to respond, legally and politically, to the most blatant gerrymanders occurring today.

Brought to you by the Touro Law Review

Learn more about Ruth Greenwood:

Ruth Greenwood is an Assistant Clinical Professor and the Director of the Election Law Clinic at Harvard Law School. She engages in litigation and advocacy on a variety of election law cases, while training the next generation of election lawyers. Professor Greenwood litigated two partisan gerrymandering cases from the trial level to the Supreme Court of the United States, Gill v. Whitford and Rucho v. Common Cause. She also has
litigated minority vote dilution claims under state and federal voting rights acts, racial
gerrymandering claims, and cases alleging a burden on the fundamental right to vote. In addition, Ruth has advised dozens of state advocates on drafting and implementing independent redistricting commissions, state voting rights acts, and adopting ranked choice voting. Professor Greenwood was previously the Co-Director of Voting Rights and Redistricting at the Campaign Legal Center, Lead Counsel for Voting Rights at the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and a Redistricting Fellow with the Democratic National Committee’s Voting Rights Institute. She received her LL.M from Columbia Law School in 2009, and her LL.B./B.Sc. from the University of Sydney in 2005.