The Ballot Box: A Pathway to Greater Success in Addressing Political Gerrymandering Through State Courts

This article will accomplish two tasks. First, it will address how political gerrymandering presents a hybrid-question for courts—a political and a constitutional question grounded in the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Second, this article will discuss two diverging challenges: the first being the federal challenges under the United States Constitution in Gill v. Whitford and Benisek v. Lamone, and the second being the Pennsylvania state constitutional challenge in League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania. Ultimately, this article seeks to provide a roadmap for successful challenges to political gerrymandering.

Although federal remedies appear limited, this article argues that gerrymandering can be successfully measured, challenged, and cured in state courts and by state legislatures.