Question 1): Former state legislators from Detroit, as well as their constituents and their attorneys, last week denounced the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (MICRC) for “its discriminatory practices” by drastically cutting the number of majority-Black districts in its 2022 maps.
MIRS newsletter reported that ex-state Rep. Sherry GAY-DAGNOGO hosted a press conference at St. John St. Luke United Church last Wednesday as a precursor to the upcoming November 1 trial in Agee v. Benson, a March 2022 lawsuit that initially challenged 10 House Districts and seven Senate districts that they say diluted the Black voters’ voice in violation of the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act.
“It has been a sad display of ridiculousness to see what’s happening within our community when it comes to making sure that black representation matters,” said plaintiff Natalie BIEN-AIME, who attended more than 20 MICRC meetings in an effort to have her voice heard.
“… The maps crack all our communities of color, diluting our voice, our vote. It has weakened our strategic opportunity to have representation in the city of Detroit,” she added.
The general theme of the group’s press conference today was that the Congressional and state House and Senate maps must be redrawn so as not to dilute the black vote (See “Redistricting Commission Adopts Maps For Congress, Senate, House,” 12/28/21).
Edward WOODS III, MICRC executive director, said in a statement that MICRC “followed the seven-ranked redistricting criteria in creating maps for the Congressional, state Senate and state House districts” as mandated by the state Constitution.
“We look forward to our stellar legal team proving this again in court,” he said.
The MICRC approved its maps in December 2021. The final maps reduced the number of majority-Black districts from 11 to seven in the House and from two to ZERO in the Senate. The Congressional maps drawn by the MICRC are not part of the suit, although they, too, were drawn with no majority-minority districts.
Jennifer GREEN, an attorney with Clark-Hill Equity who represents the plaintiffs, said as a result of the new maps, the Black Caucus lost 20% of its representation in 2022.
In August, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court dismissed some challenged state legislative districts, but held that the plaintiffs could move forward with a challenge against House Districts 1, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12 and 14 as well as Senate Districts 1, 3, 6, 8, 10 and 11 (See “State’s Legislative Maps Going To Trial In Federal Court,” 8/30/23).
A common trend of the affected districts is that they are geographically long north-and-south strips that connect Detroit with its neighboring suburbs.
Caledonia attorney John J. BURSCH, who argued on behalf of the plaintiffs, told MIRS at the time that they only “need to win in one district in each chamber and they have to redraw the maps.”
A final pretrial conference was held Thursday with the trial set for Nov. 1 in federal court in Kalamazoo. At trial, the main issue will be about whether the MICRC went too far in lowering black voter percentages in Detroit. The MICRC’s attorneys argued at the time that the districts need only be 40% Black because, at that point, a Black candidate has a “puncher’s chance” of winning the seats.
Gay-Dagnogo disagreed. Traditionally, Michigan has operated under the belief that a certain number of districts must be at least 50% Black. She called it “appalling that an entity operating under a Democratic Secretary of State, which has relied heavily on the black vote, would perpetuate discrimination, further disenfranchising African-American voters.”
So, what about this lawsuit? Does it have a “puncher’s chance”of winning? And why has this obvious issue waited so long to come to a head?
|
|||||||||||||||
|
Nice article, Bill, and spot on, especially on the time lost, the silence of the media, the Michigan Democratic Party and the impact of the Alabama case. Shielding this through the MICRC instead of a legislature will not work, methinks.
There are several questions that need answering. How in the name of God did the MICRC thought they could draw state house districts that led Highland Park to be represented by a white guy from Ferndale. And that is not the only example in the House. The senate is the same way. Wasn’t there anyone on the MICRC capable of thinking?
How could any legal counsel actually think this would fly? I’m no lawyer, but all you would need would be to have a brain capable of a dozen synapses to realize these districts were “flawed”. I can understand the MICRC not wanting to create a legislative abortion like Brenda Lawrence’s district, but what they did is far worse.
Why didn’t the plaintiffs challenge them day one? It may have thrown a bit of a monkey wrench into the 2022 election, but you need to decide what is more important to you, justice or politics. Ms Gay-Dagnano’s comment: “IT IS APPALLING THAT AN ENTITY OPERATING UNDER A DEMOCRATIC SECRETARY OF STATE, WHICH HAS RELIED HEAVILY ON THE BLACK VOTE, WOULD PERPETUATE DISCRIMINATION, FURTHER DISENFRANCHISING AFRICAN AMERICAN VOTERS.” is quite telling. She seems to think the MICRC should be in Benson’s back pocket. I’m pretty sure that is not what people thought would happen when they approved constitutional amendment.
Who is the Federal judge hearing the case at the Western District federal court in Kalamazoo? Judge Maloney? Given the current state of our judiciary, knowing who the judge(s) is/are should tell us who will prevail.
Now if the Federal Judge hearing the case (Maloney or whoever it is) wants a special panel or masters to draw new lines as he would question the utility of the MICRC as none of their plans seem to meet the VRA criteria, I suggest that Bill volunteer himself and some of the TBR subscribers; secure conference rooms with computers in the upper parking level of the Hannah Bldg.; give us census data; give us access to the rapid copy office down the hall; get us a few cases and beer and some pizza; and we should have satisfactory plans that Hizzoner would approve of. I will volunteer!
I’ll also volunteer, provided the beer is Heineken, and several varieties of Bell’s Greek Pizza is served!
Matt, I thought we would drink Michigan beer as we are doing work for the people of Michigan.
Bell’s, Founders, Arbor Brewing and so many others to choose from. How about a Michigan beer smorgasbord, which would be needed as we triple check our results.
Missing from context….thanks to this redistricting we today have a black speaker of the house and a black senate approps chair. They have helped restore some semblance of balance to urban and rural policy that republicans had simply ignored. It may be possible to create more majority black districts and maintain the appropriate partisan balance. That would be the right solution.
In the 10th Congressional District, local Republican activists were overjoyed over the Redistricting Commission’s work – and it led to the election of the first GOP representative in the area since Representative Robert J. Huber was voted in during the Nixon landslide of 1972.
John James is the only black in Michigan’s current U.S. Congressional delegation and the Redistricting Commission’s work made it possible for his 10th District victory in 2022.
The GOP was not overjoyed over two state senate districts that were re-drawn which resulted in Democrats taking those seats.
Veronica Klinefeld defeated incumbent GOP Sen. Mike McDonald when the south boundary of the northern Macomb County district was extended into the City of Detroit – so much for “community of interest”. Klinefelt won a narrow victory over McDonald.
Kevin Hertel – a Democrat from St. Clair Shores – also won a narrow victory over Republican Pamela Hornberger due to similar gerrymandering of district lines to capture a second Michigan Senate seat.
Without the Redistricting Commission’s gerrymandering, there would have been likely no Democratic majority in the Michigan Senate.
The constitutional language adopted by the voters establishes compliance with the VRA as the most important criteria:
“Districts shall be of equal population as mandated by the United States constitution, and shall comply with the voting rights act and other federal laws.” Disagreements over whether maps complies with the VRA is appropriately before the courts, which was the intent of the drafters.
The claim that the outcome of the 2021 process is linked to Jocelyn Benson is an unwarranted cheap shot. The Commission was crafted so that the Secretary of State’s role was and is totally administrative support beginning with the selection process and continuing through adoption of maps. The maps were approved, as required by the amendment, by a vote of self-identified as Republicans, Independents and Democrats. All three groups had to sign off on the plan; Benson did not. At no point did Secretary Benson weigh in on the substance of the Commission’s deliberations. If she had, the Commission was fully empowered to ignore her.
Calling the maps “gerrymandered” is also unwarranted. Thanks to Michigan’s geography (both physical and political) there have to be good-faith compromises involving what are admittedly irreconcilable tensions between the criteria in priority three: “Districts shall reflect the state’s diverse population and communities of interest. Communities of interest may include, but shall not be limited to, populations that share cultural or historical characteristics or economic interests. Communities of interest do not include relationships with political parties, incumbents, or political candidates.” There is no way on earth that all of these criteria can be satisfied 100%.
Compared with the products produced by the 2001 and 2011 legislatures, the maps are a major improvement. The maps resulted in an election which generally reflected the state’s electorate: Democrats won slim total-vote majorities for Congress and the Legislature, resulting in the election of the slimmest of majorities in all three (7-6, 20-18, 56-54).
It should also be noted that the lack of African American Democrats in the congressional delegation can be traced in part to primaries where a plethora of African American candidates divided the vote, making it possible for Shri Thanedar (28% of the vote) to win his 2022 primary, and Rashida Tlaib (31%) to win her first primary back in 2018 and subsequently run with the advantages of incumbency.
One ‘fix’ for the racial disparities could be ranked choice voting.
Rashida Tlaib was initially elected to the Michigan Legislature when that district covered Mexican Village and Hispanic Democratic primary candidates split the vote; she won a a plurality in that primary election despite polling far less than a majority of the overall Democratic primary vote.
So the fact Tlaib has been successful in dividing the vote of minorities in achieving elected office is nothing new.
Another Arab-American politician, Abraham Aiyash, did the same thing when he squared off in a primary for a State House seat in the district covering Cass Corridor and Hamtramck.
Despite the fact the electoral district was overwhelmingly African-American, Aiyash pulled off an easy primary victory because a high number of black primary candidates diluted the primary vote and Aiyash was able to garner a significant percentage of the Arab-American vote in Hamtramck and elsewhere in the urban district.
The central thrust of this article is generally correct: blacks in Michigan have been “thrown under the bus” by Democrats in the Redistricting Commission and elsewhere in recent years – and they have every right to be angry.
In the City of Warren, Democratic Michigan House member Lori Stone – a liberal lawmaker – defeated two black candidates in the city’s mayoral primary; one being Democratic Macomb County Commissioner Michelle Nard. Instead of congratulating a fellow Democrat for a primary victory, Nard posted on Facebook and other social media messaging criticizing Stone and other members of her electoral slate while announcing that she, Nard, would be in the general election running as a write-in candidate. This will likely have a deleterious effect on Stone’s chances at beating George Dimas, the top vote-getter in the primary election. This schism between black and white Democrats is hurting Democratic Party interests and can be traced at least in part to the Redistricting Commission fiasco.
Macomb County and Wayne County are areas that have been a hotbed of dissension between black and white Democrats. Sherry Gay-Dagnogo should be commended for her statements and actions bringing these problems to the forefront of public discussion.
I’d like to know why the Irish-American community is always left out of the representation game. Whisky Tango Foxtrot?
The spirit of Oliver Cromwell has NOT been driven from the face of the earth. Yet.
Were people asleep before? Why did they not protest before Commission made their final decision. They had opportunity. Also, based on population, the black areas have lost population. They can’t have their own representation anymore without adding some white suburban areas. I think the election of Shri to Congress blew their mind and set off warning bells. However, the warning bells were to late that’s why Shri is in Congress. Basically, this is all about the city’s of Detroit, Ecorse, River Rouge, Highland Park and Royal Oak Township where the majority is black. Southfield might be considered a little also.