The Supreme Court's quiet gerrymandering revolution and the road to minority rule

This month the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a Wisconsin case over the constitutionality of the Republican-dominated state legislature's redistricting plan. Michael Latner, Anthony McGann, Charles Anthony Smith, and Alex Keena argue that while this case is important, no matter what it decides, the Supreme Court has already enabled large-scale gerrymandering. They write that the Court's 2004 decision ..

Why the Republicans will retain the House in 2016...and 2018...and 2020

At this stage of the 2016 election cycle, which party will control the White House and the US Senate come January 2017 seems to be very much up in the air. The US House of Representatives on the other hand, is almost certain to remain in the hands of the Republican Party, a situation which is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Anthony J. McGann , Charles Anthony Smith , Michael Latner and Alex Keena argue that the GOP’s continued control of the House is down to the gerrymandering of Congressional districts by Republican-controlled state legislatures. They write that in certain states like Pennsylvania, this gerrymandering leads to an asymmetry between the number of seats the Democrats gain and their vote share, reducing their share of US House seats

Gerrymandering the Presidency: Why Trump could lose the popular vote in 2020 by 6 percent and still win a second term.

Donald Trump was the clear Electoral College winner in the 2016 election, despite losing the popular vote by a wide margin to Hillary Clinton. Anthony J. McGann, Charles Anthony Smith, Michael Latner and Alex Keena write that, unless the Supreme Court stops congressional gerrymandering, President Trump can guarantee re-election in 2020 – even if he loses by 6 percent

The US Supreme Court has decided partisan gerrymandering is outside its remit. A democratic restoration now depends on the people alone.

The United States Supreme Court has determined that reviewing partisan gerrymandering cases was outside the remit of federal courts. Alex Keena, Michael Latner, Anthony J. McGann and Charles Anthony Smith argue that in failing to recognise the vote dilution caused by the redrawing of a state’s electoral district boundaries to the party in power’s advantage, as well as connecting the majority rule standard to the 14th Amendment, the decision removes Americans’ fundamental right to participate equally in the political process

Maryland's electoral maps show how proportional representation could solve the problem of gerrymandering

This week the US Supreme Court hears a case concerning the constitutionality of partisan gerrymandering in Maryland. Examining current, past, and alternative electoral maps, Alex Keena, Michael Latner, Anthony J. McGann, and Charles Anthony Smith find that by making districts more competitive, some redistricting plans can actually work against one party or the other. Only the introduction of proportional representation with multi-member districts, they argue, would mean a truly fair electoral system for Maryland

The 2018 House elections may be historic enough to end the redistricting wars

This year’s midterm elections saw reforms to the way US House districts are drawn in four states. Alongside these successful measures, write Alex Keena, Michael Latner, Anthony J. McGann and Charles Anthony Smith, Democratic takeovers of gubernatorial mansions and successful voting rights reforms such as Florida’s felon reenfranchisement are likely to signal the beginning of an era of significant electoral reforms in the US

Republican state legislatures are attacking voting rights. Congress has the power to fight back.

The 2020 election saw the Democratic Party re-take the White House and the United States Senate and hold control of the House of Representatives. In the months that have followed, Republican-controlled state legislatures have proposed more than 200 bills which would roll back voting ability and access. Michael Latner, Alex Keena, Anthony McGann and Charles Anthony Smith give an overview of these measures, and look at the For the People Act as Congressional Democrats’ best chance to protect voting rights

A discernable and manageable standard for partisan gerrymandering

The case of Veith v. Jubelirer (2004) challenges us to find a standard for partisan gerrymandering that is judicially discernable and manageable. Without such a standard even the most egregious partisan gerrymanders cannot be effectively challenged. However, we argue that the way to find a suitable standard is not to embark on a quest for a “new” standard. Rather it is to take the existing valid measures that science gives us, and show that these can be grounded in constitutionally protected rights. Using recent results in social choice theory, we show that the existing partisan symmetry standard can be derived from an individual right to equal protection. We also show that the existing technology for measuring partisan symmetry can provide a judicially manageable test for partisan bias

Fluorescence as an alternative to light-scatter gating strategies to identify frozen–thawed cells with flow cytometry

AbstractFlow cytometry is a key instrument in biological studies, used to identify and analyze cells in suspension. The identification of cells from debris is commonly based on light scatter properties as it has been shown that there is a relationship between forward scattered light and cell volume and this has become common practice in flow cytometry. Cryobiological conditions induce changes in cells that alter their light scatter properties. Cells with membrane damage from freeze–thaw stress produce lower forward scatter signals and may fall below standard forward scatter thresholds. In contrast to light scatter properties that cannot identify damaged cells from debris, fluorescent dyes used in membrane integrity and mitochondrial polarization assays are capable of labeling and discriminating all cells in suspension. Under cryobiological conditions, isolating cell populations is more effectively accomplished by gating on fluorescence rather than light scatter properties. This study shows the limitations of using forward scatter thresholds in flow cytometry to identify and gate cells after exposure to a freeze–thaw protocol and demonstrates the use of fluorescence as an alternative means of identifying and analyzing cells