Are embedded congressional districts illegal?

[100% pro-life no matter what]

I noticed that DRA flags a district that is completely surrounded by another district (like an island within it).  Is that illegal for some reason?  If so, why is that?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

I don't think it is and it's a rather silly feature of DRA.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

They are not and there's a couple state legislative districts that are like that. I believe the last Congressional districts like that was Nevada's up until 2002, when it only had two districts, one completely surrounded by the other.

I guess it's considered bad form or whatever, but it's a bit odd for DRA to imply they're not allowed.

[Nyvin]

I think they're just frowned upon for some reason.  Probably because it creates a "tug of war" between the two districts and the reps don't really like competing directly with one another.

I've never heard of any laws against.

[MarkD]

From 1992 to 2002, the congressional map for Arizona had all of the Hopi reservation in AZ-03 and all of the Navajo reservation in AZ-06. The map was drawn that way because the two respective tribes did not want to be represented by the same congressman. This meant that the town of Moenkopi, Arizona, which is Hopi land and is surrounded on all four sides by Navajo land, was in AZ0-03 but was embedded within AZ-06.

[bagelman]

We need more of them

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

DRA's main reason for not liking them is the strain it puts on its system for ensuring that districts are contiguous.

[Sol]

No, and sometimes IMO they're a better option--it's better to put Valencia and Torrance County in a district with other suburbs of Albuquerque than split the region in three, for example.

[Alcibiades]

No, and in my opinion they would make sense if, for instance, you have a region that forms a clear CoI, and in the middle of that region is a city which is large enough to have its own district.

[Hope For A New Era]

No, and in my opinion they would make sense if, for instance, you have a region that forms a clear CoI, and in the middle of that region is a city which is large enough to have its own district.

This is done in the Missouri State Senate. District 30 (Springfield) is fully surrounded by District 20 (Christian County and the rest of Greene County).

[Alcibiades]

No, and in my opinion they would make sense if, for instance, you have a region that forms a clear CoI, and in the middle of that region is a city which is large enough to have its own district.

This is done in the Missouri State Senate. District 30 (Springfield) is fully surrounded by District 20 (Christian County and the rest of Greene County).

A historical example is that Nevada and Arizona both had a nested district back when they had only 2 districts, Las Vegas surrounded by the rest of the state, and Maricopa County surrounded by the rest of the state, respectively. They obviously made sense in the context of those states, where a large proportion of the population lives in a geographically small area.

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

No, and in my opinion they would make sense if, for instance, you have a region that forms a clear CoI, and in the middle of that region is a city which is large enough to have its own district.

This is done in the Missouri State Senate. District 30 (Springfield) is fully surrounded by District 20 (Christian County and the rest of Greene County).

A historical example is that Nevada and Arizona both had a nested district back when they had only 2 districts, Las Vegas surrounded by the rest of the state, and Maricopa County surrounded by the rest of the state, respectively. They obviously made sense in the context of those states, where a large proportion of the population lives in a geographically small area.

You can still fairly easily and sensibly make a Las Vegas surrounding district 

[OBD]

From 1992 to 2002, the congressional map for Arizona had all of the Hopi reservation in AZ-03 and all of the Navajo reservation in AZ-06. The map was drawn that way because the two respective tribes did not want to be represented by the same congressman. This meant that the town of Moenkopi, Arizona, which is Hopi land and is surrounded on all four sides by Navajo land, was in AZ0-03 but was embedded within AZ-06.

Don't think that's so much of an embedded district as it is a completely noncontiguous district. Surprised that was allowed.

[Sol]

From 1992 to 2002, the congressional map for Arizona had all of the Hopi reservation in AZ-03 and all of the Navajo reservation in AZ-06. The map was drawn that way because the two respective tribes did not want to be represented by the same congressman. This meant that the town of Moenkopi, Arizona, which is Hopi land and is surrounded on all four sides by Navajo land, was in AZ0-03 but was embedded within AZ-06.

Don't think that's so much of an embedded district as it is a completely noncontiguous district. Surprised that was allowed.

It isn't allowed--the Hopi reservation was linked to it by a narrow spit with no one living in it.

[Alcibiades]

From 1992 to 2002, the congressional map for Arizona had all of the Hopi reservation in AZ-03 and all of the Navajo reservation in AZ-06. The map was drawn that way because the two respective tribes did not want to be represented by the same congressman. This meant that the town of Moenkopi, Arizona, which is Hopi land and is surrounded on all four sides by Navajo land, was in AZ0-03 but was embedded within AZ-06.

Don't think that's so much of an embedded district as it is a completely noncontiguous district. Surprised that was allowed.

It was actually contiguous, the Hopi land was just connected to the rest of the district by an extremely narrow strip of land.

[OBD]

I see. Thanks!

[palandio]

The UK has two of them:
York Central is embedded in York Outer.
Bath is embedded in North East Somerset. The Bath constituency covers exactly the city of Bath.

Germany has one of them (on the federal level):
Augsburg-Stadt is embedded in Augsburg-Land, although you could argue that there is one point connecting Augsburg-Stadt to Starnberg-Landsberg am Lech.

Generally I think that embedded districts can make a lot of sense in certain situations.

[SevenEleven]

They should be illegal, I know that much.

[Tintrlvr]

They should be illegal, I know that much.

Nonsense. It's not incredibly common, but there are definitely scenarios where embedded districts can be the most fair outcome. Jacksonville is a good example.

[SevenEleven]

They should be illegal, I know that much.

Nonsense. It's not incredibly common, but there are definitely scenarios where embedded districts can be the most fair outcome. Jacksonville is a good example.

It's not the case in Jacksonville, nor anywhere else. A donut is not a community of interest.

[Sol]

What a bizarre opinion.

What's your proposal for the Jacksonville area?

[Idaho Conservative]

They should be illegal, I know that much.

Nonsense. It's not incredibly common, but there are definitely scenarios where embedded districts can be the most fair outcome. Jacksonville is a good example.

It's not the case in Jacksonville, nor anywhere else. A donut is not a community of interest.

it can be.  The suburbs of a city can absoletely be a COI.

[SevenEleven]

They should be illegal, I know that much.

Nonsense. It's not incredibly common, but there are definitely scenarios where embedded districts can be the most fair outcome. Jacksonville is a good example.

It's not the case in Jacksonville, nor anywhere else. A donut is not a community of interest.

it can be.  The suburbs of a city can absoletely be a COI.

Not by any...seriously defined CoI metric. Suburbs share a COI with the city itself, barring extreme circumstances.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

This annoyed me on a New York map I made last year.

[Idaho Conservative]

They should be illegal, I know that much.

Nonsense. It's not incredibly common, but there are definitely scenarios where embedded districts can be the most fair outcome. Jacksonville is a good example.

It's not the case in Jacksonville, nor anywhere else. A donut is not a community of interest.

it can be.  The suburbs of a city can absoletely be a COI.

Not by any...seriously defined CoI metric. Suburbs share a COI with the city itself, barring extreme circumstances.

uh......yes. An urban area and a suburban area have very different issues and priorities.   The suburbs of a given city can easily be seen as a COI.  It depends on the size though.  Some metros are small enough where the entire area can fit into a signal district, and that's ideal from a COI perspective.  But for larger metro areas, it's ideal to draw and urban district and a suburban district, rather than cutting them up.  This isn't a partisan issue either.  Just look at Ohio.  Putting urban Columbus in 2 districts would be great for Democrats, putting urban Cinci in 2 districts is great for Republicans.