Michigan’s two majority-Black congressional districts are eliminated. Eight of 14 incumbents would have to face off against each other or run in different districts.
Read the seven memos Bridge Michigan and other news outlets sued to make public. Most materials discuss the Voting Rights Act and drawing of majority-minority districts.
Bridge Michigan was among several media organizations that sued the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission for its failure to make public a private hearing and refusing to release secret legal memos related to its work.
Advocates call it ‘prison gerrymandering’ and say urban cities are denied truly fair representation because inmates are counted as residents of their prisons. Others say it's not so simple.
The decision by the state’s top court will determine whether the public gets to see memos the redistricting commission used to help draw political boundaries.
In lawsuit response, the group contends that memos about minority representation are protected under attorney-client privilege, and releasing them is a ‘direct threat.’
Days after Michigan's redistricting commission voted not to release memos used to craft legislative boundaries, Bridge and other news outlets ask the Michigan Supreme Court to make them public.
The 13-member redistricting panel, created in part to make the process more transparent, has declined multiple Freedom of Information Act requests by Michigan news outlets.
The Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission will meet Thursday to decide whether to release documents used to draft majority-minority districts in southeast Michigan.
Despite the constitution and an attorney general opinion, the independent panel says it’s not obligated to make public memos that helped shape southeast Michigan districts.
For the first time in years, incumbency wasn’t a consideration in drawing new districts. That means dozens may have to face each other in legislative races, a Bridge analysis finds.
Michigan’s new political boundaries are being drawn in a more transparent fashion than in the past, but there are still questions being raised about documents hidden from the public.
The state’s non-partisan citizens redistricting panel is less than two months from approving final new legislative boundaries that could alter the political makeup in Lansing and DC. They have proposed 15 maps, most of which could give Democrats an edge.
