Results of the 2010 Census

[Kevinstat]

The new districts take effect with the 2012 election, except in Maine where it's 2014 because due to the early filing deadline and the short state house session and the release date for lower-level population data, the time window for passing a map for 2012 would be just a couple of days.

The Statutory adjournment date of the odd-year regular session of the Maine Legislature is now the third Wednesday in June.  How much later than that do odd-year regular sessions adjourn in most states?

We do have an Apportionment Commission which currently under Maine's Constitution has at least 117 days (depending on when all the members are named) to submit apportionment plans for the State House, State Senate and Congress to the Clerk of the House which the Legislature has, well, the language is somewhat confliting as there are numbers of days based on both the submission of the commission's plan and the appointment of the commission, and one would think that would mean whichever is earlier by the language but I recall the State House plan being enacted after at least one of those deadlines but still taking effect, ... anyway it has until however long it has to pass the commission's plan or one of its own (and there were Democratic and Republican plans for State Senate and Congressional districts in 2003, with no majority Senate district plan but with the one Independent member of the Apportionement Commission supporting the Democrats Congressional district plan making it the majority plan) before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court (our Supreme Court with a middle name to distinguish it) takes over (as they did for State Senate and Congressional redistricting in 2003), upsetting the Democrats with their preliminary plans (they had put Knox County Michaud's district - not a good fit for him - instead of the Waterville area and put two Democratic State Senators in the same district) but pleasing them and mildly disappointing the Republicans with their final plans (undoing the changes described above but not accepting a Republican-proposed major reshuffle of the State Senate districts in York County with minor related changes extending beyond the county; they seemed to frown on changes to their preliminary plan  that did not have every changed district part of a two-district conglomerate with an unchanged perimeter).

I'm planning on trying to get someone in the Legislature to propose a constitutional amendment to provide for reapportionment (or redistricting) effective for the 2012 elections and elections every ten years thereafter.  I'd be willing to accept the responsibility for redistricting rested solely with the Supreme Judicial Court, where the adjournment date of Maine's Legislature wouldn't pose a problem, as they often have to make some or all of the plans anyway (1983 was the last time they didn't, and even then one of the plans was challenged in court).  The redistricting couldn't be done in the "2" year as long as we allow candidates to circulate and file nominating petitions and qualifying contributions (which only registered voters in the candidate's districts can sign and give) for public funding on January 1st of the year the candidates are seeking election.  Taking away the Legislature's redistricting perogative would likely be a non-starter in the Legislature, however, and a lot of Legislators will be predisposed to oppose any change once the complicated logistics become apparent.

[Kevinstat]

It's a tradition that only began in the 1970s for the State House - after the bulk of the earth-shattering "Apportionment Decisions" had been handed down - and in the 1980s for the State Senate.

Has the Supreme Court explicitly ruled (for Congress, the Legislature, or both) that redistricting has to be done by the first election after the numbers from the latest census come in, rather than merely once every decade (which they might have assumed states would understand to mean right after the census)?  If so I'd like to hear what the case or cases are that established that rule.  That could be useful in getting Legislative action on moving our redistricting ahead (earlier) two years next year (the last sensible time to try to get that done for the next post-census redistricting, as there would be hardly enough time to redistrict in 2012 after the necessary Constitutional amendment referendum was passed in 2011 - although a state Constitutional amendment wouldn't be necessary to change our congressional redistricting cycle which is in statute only).

[Kevinstat]

I believe Mississippi, which elects its Legislature (along with its Governor) to four-year terms the year before the President is elected), doesn't have its legislative redistricting (done in the "2" year) go into effect until the "5" year elections in decades when their state government elections are in "1", "5" and "9" years.  So they are the worst state half the time (after the 1990 census and after the 2010 census if I understand the law correctly and it doesn't change before their elections in 2011) as far as timely legislative redistricting is concerned, while Maine, Montana, and any state legislative chamber that is elected in Presidential election years only are tied for the last election their redistricting goes into effect the other half of the time, such as after the 1980, 2000 and 2020 censuses if things don't change before then.   (Inaugaration dates are probably different in those states - Maine's is in early December for our Legislature so we probably beat out Montana in when Legislators are inagarated who serve new districts; does anyone know when their Legislature is inaugarated?).

Montana doesn't have multiple congressional districts and Mississippi's congressional redistricting goes into effect for the "2" year elections so we're the worst state as far as timely congressional redistricting is concerned.  The best state legislative chambers as far as timely legislative redistricting is concerned are both of New Jersey's chambers,  the Virginia House (and the Virginia Senate with its four-year terms half the time - they are elected midway between gubernatorial elections or one year before the President so in 2003 rather than 2001 but in 2011), and both of Louisiana chambers half the time (see the Virginia Senate except that Louisiana's Governor is also elected on that cycle), all of which are redistricted in time for the "1" year elections in those states when they are held.  New Jersey has two-year terms for its State House and a 2-4-4 cycle of terms for its State Senators beginning with the "1" year elections when the new districts are first used.  It's probably not very often that someone says New Jersey's politics are the best in any category but in timely legislative redistricting it is.

[Kevinstat]

What about Legislative districts?  How sure a winner would a suit against the current existing State House and State Senate being used in 2012 be (assuming there is more than a 10% deviation between those districts as of the 2010 census, which there will be)?  You may have tried to answer that question but it got lost by me among everything else.  (I'm sure many people experience that with my posts. ) If the districts were thrown out in 2012 on population grounds (a suit lauched too soon before that might be determined to be not ripe for review), coming up with a practicable solution that would abide by Maine's Constitution as much as possible while passing federal muster would be very difficult, much moreso than for Congress where you could extend the filing deadline if necessary for the first district candidates to collect more signatures from the smaller district depending on when the ruling went down (a suitable map could probably be drawn that would only shift territory from the first district to the second).

[Kevinstat]

I'd start with the US Code mandating election from districts.  It supersedes 2 USC §2a (c), which has a grandfather provision for States that have had no change in representation, permitting them to continue to use existing districts until redistricting was done.

How can anything other than a constitutional amendment (or a new or previously unrevealed Supreme Court interpretation of the U.S. Constitution including its amendments) supersede the U.S. Constitution?  Perhaps you didn't mean what you wrote above exactly the way you wrote it.  Or perhaps 2 USC §2a (c) merely makes it clear that there is not a Constitutional requirement for states to redraw congressional districts when there is no change in representation, but doesn't make it unconstitutional for federal law (which trumps state constitutions and laws) to require such a redrawing of congressional districts.  That would make sense.

[Kevinstat]

I'd start with the US Code mandating election from districts.  It supersedes 2 USC §2a (c), which has a grandfather provision for States that have had no change in representation, permitting them to continue to use existing districts until redistricting was done.

How can anything other than a constitutional amendment (or a new or previously unrevealed Supreme Court interpretation of the U.S. Constitution including its amendments) supersede the U.S. Constitution?  Perhaps you didn't mean what you wrote above exactly the way you wrote it.  Or perhaps 2 USC §2a (c) merely makes it clear that there is not a Constitutional requirement for states to redraw congressional districts when there is no change in representation, but doesn't make it unconstitutional for federal law (which trumps state constitutions and laws) to require such a redrawing of congressional districts.  That would make sense.

I'm saying that one section of US Code, 2 USC §2c,  takes precedence over another section of US Code, 2 USC §2a (c).

Oh, I had thought "USC" meant "United States Constitution.  My bad!

Thanks for all the information, Jimrtex.  I guess I might have to point out how we violate federal law on congressional districts and if we're going to fix that we might as well move our legislative redistricting up as well (hopefully the Senate chair of the relevent committee (Maine's main legislative committees are joint committees) won't inderectly accuse me of going off-topic again).  I'd also probably bring up how good New Jersey is in any public hearing on the issue.  I'd first need a Legislator to request a constitutional amendment (for legislative redistricting) and a companion bill (for congressional redistricting) to move our reapportionment to before the "2" year elections.