Election outcomes should be determined by voters, not politicians who manipulate voting maps.
But gerrymandering — the manipulation of the map-drawing process for political gain — makes it easier for politicians and political parties to consolidate power and win elections at the expense of voters and our democracy.
Gerrymandering directly affects how communities are represented at every level of government — from local councils and state legislatures to the U.S. House of Representatives. These elected bodies make decisions that shape our daily lives, including public education, healthcare access and transportation.
When district lines are manipulated for political gain, it can dilute the power of some voters while manufacturing increased influence of others, making it harder for communities to elect leaders who truly reflect their needs and priorities. Fair representation starts with fair maps that give voters the opportunity to have a meaningful say in who makes the decisions that affect them every day.
Campaign Legal Center (CLC) has been sounding the alarm on this issue for years. What we need now is a national solution to prevent gerrymandering of congressional districts nationwide.
Gerrymandering, explained.
There are four main ways that politicians manipulate maps to disadvantage voters and instead advantage themselves or their political party. These are:
Malapportionment: Drawing districts with deliberate differences in population, which causes constituents in highly populous districts to have effectively less voting strength (drawn to disadvantage the opposite political party or voters of color) than their counterparts in more sparsely populated districts (drawn to advantage voters of the same political party as the map drawer).
Racial vote dilution: Redistricting plans that minimize or cancel the voting power of voters of color.
Partisan gerrymandering: Creating maps or districts that enable a political party and/or incumbent to gain a systemic advantage.
Racial gerrymandering: Sorting voters into districts with a predominant focus on race. The U.S. Supreme Court has found that an excessive focus on race in drawing districts violates the 14th Amendment to the Constitution unless there is sufficient justification, such as compliance with the Voting Rights Act (VRA).
Learn more about what gerrymandering is here.
Fortunately, it is possible to combat gerrymandering and ensure that voters can choose their leaders, instead of letting politicians pick their voters. Campaign Legal Center has been at the forefront of advocating for solutions.
How do we combat gerrymandering?
The U.S. Supreme Court has made it harder for plaintiffs to challenge unfair maps in federal court. In Rucho v. Common Cause (2019), the Court ruled that federal courts have no role to play in settling partisan gerrymandering disputes, no matter how egregious the gerrymander. Then, in Alexander v. South Carolina NAACP (2024), the Supreme Court established additional roadblocks for plaintiffs to prove racial gerrymandering claims. And most recently, in Louisiana v. Callais (2026), the Court substantially narrowed Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, transforming that statute’s results test and heightening the evidentiary burden to prove a vote dilution claim.
Still, some states expressly forbid partisan gerrymandering in their own state laws or constitutions, such as Utah, Michigan, New York, Ohio, and Florida, making it possible to challenge partisan maps in state court. In other states, gerrymandered maps have been struck down under broad protections in state constitutions, for example, in Alaska, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. And some states require certain neutral redistricting criteria to be followed — such as compactness, contiguity, and minimizing political subdivision splits — and violations of those criteria can be litigated to remove unfair maps. One example of this is Wisconsin, where its state legislative map was an extreme partisan gerrymander but was struck down for being noncontiguous.
Where they can meet the burden of proof, plaintiffs can still litigate intentional discrimination or racial gerrymandering claims in federal court. Many states also have laws prohibiting racial discrimination, including state voting rights acts, which protect against racial vote dilution at the local level.
Passing a federal ban on partisan gerrymandering.
Given the actions of the Supreme Court and a political environment that encourages abuses of the redistricting process, the need for a national solution for partisan gerrymandering is necessary. Congress should pass national legislation prohibiting partisan gerrymandering, establishing neutral redistricting criteria, and providing a process for resolving any claims against unfair maps.
Establishing Independent Redistricting Commissions to create fair maps.
Another way to combat gerrymandering is to limit the power of self-interested politicians in the mapmaking process. This is where Independent Redistricting Commissions (IRCs) come in.
IRCs are separate bodies from the state legislature that are responsible for drawing districts for congressional and/or state legislative elections.
The exact structure of IRCs can vary state-by-state, but they are generally a voter-centric reform that ensures voters — not politicians — decide how political maps are drawn. In several states, it is possible for voters to call for the creation of IRCs through ballot initiatives as has happened in states like Michigan and Colorado in recent years.
In addition to putting more power in the hands of voters, they also establish standards for who can serve on a commission. People who were recently or are currently elected officials, political party officials, lobbyists or government employees are often prohibited from serving on their state's commission.
IRCs are also responsible for ensuring that the maps drawn meet various criteria for fair districts and comply with the VRA to ensure that all Americans can have equitable representation in government.
In short, IRCs are an effective tool for empowering voters to solve gerrymandering at the state level and create fair maps.
Learn more about Independent Redistricting Commissions here.
The time to act is now.
Banning partisan gerrymandering nationwide, along with strengthening existing protections, would allow voters to choose their elected representatives instead of the other way around.
Campaign Legal Center has vigorously worked to advance these solutions to end gerrymandering. Now Congress must enact them to allow voters — not politicians — to decide the outcome of elections. With your support, we can continue to fight for fair maps both in Congress and in court.
