Partisan gerrymandering returns to SCOTUS today as the North Carolina legislative defendants are due to file their jurisdiction statement asking the Justices to hear the case. We’ll post it here 👇when it is available: brennancenter.org/legal-work/com… #fairmaps #ncpol 1/ The NC legislative defendants are asking SCOTUS to overturn the ruling of a three-judge panel striking down North Carolina’s congressional map as a partisan gerrymander. That ruling here: brennancenter.org/sites/default/… #fairmaps #ncpol 2/

BREAKING: Federal court rules that plaintiffs in North Carolina partisan gerrymandering case have standing to pursue claims (with one exception) and affirms earlier ruling that congressional map is unconstitutional. brennancenter.org/sites/default/… #fairmaps 1/ Decision is 2-1, with Judge Osteen dissenting. Majority opinion runs to 294 pages. #fairmaps 2/

So here’s one way to think of the differences over what it would take for Democrats to win a majority in 2018.

Imagine that there is a 10.6 foot wall. Democrats somehow need to get over that wall to get a majority. #fairmaps 1/ Now, one way to do so would be to build a 10.6 foot ladder - or better yet an 11 foot one because a bit of extra is helpful in these things. #fairmaps 2/

Democrats could win a majority in the U.S. House this November, but thanks to gerrymandering, doing so would require a near unprecedented win in the national vote. @lauraroyden and I explain in today's NYT: nytimes.com/2018/03/25/opi… #fairmaps 1/ For more detail, here's the study that @lauraroyden, @yurijrudensky, and I wrote looking at the impact of extreme gerrymandering on the 2018 midterm. #fairmaps 2/

BREAKING: SCOTUS partially stays new North Carolina legislative maps. Thomas & Alito would have stayed in entirety. Ginsburg & Sotomayor would denied stay in entirety. #ncpol #fairmaps 1/ Stay by SCOTUS is as to special master's revision of state house districts in Wake & Mecklenburg counties. #ncpol #fairmaps 2/

This week will be a momentous one on the redistricting front - with action in legal challenges to two of the worst congressional maps of the decade: Pennsylvania & North Carolina. #fairmaps 1/ In PA, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on 1/17 in a challenge seeking to have the state's congressional map invalidated as a partisan gerrymander under state law. #fairmaps 2/ brennancenter.org/legal-work/lea…

BREAKING: North Carolina congressional map struck down as partisan gerrymander. #fairmaps Map struck down was North Carolina’s second congressional map of the decade. First was invalidated as racial gerrymander. Lege redrew but required new map to maintain 10-3 GOP advantage. #fairmaps 2/

Here's Justice Breyer's four-part manageable partisan gerrymandering test from today. Part 1: Is there single-party control? #fairmaps Part 2: Is there partisan asymmetry? #fairmaps

A4: No, no, no, no. In a word: NO. The “Big Sort” does not explain pro-GOP maps. 1/ #fairmaps We explain why here: brennancenter.org/blog/what-is-e… 2/ #fairmaps

A1: Short answer - Gerrymandering is manipulation of legislative & congressional district boundaries for political gain. But 1/ #fairmaps It’s more complicated than that because gerrymandering, like cancer, is a broad term. 2/ #fairmaps