United States Supreme Court holds that local governments may draw legislative districts or wards bas

An appeal from Texas voters seeking to require the State of Texas to use voter-eligible population, instead of total population, to draw legislative districts was unanimously rejected by the Supreme Court in Evenwel v. Abbott. The Court held that “[a]s constitutional history, precedent, and practice demonstrate, a State or locality may draw its legislative districts based on total population,” and a state or local government is not required to base districts on voter-eligible population. The Court’s reasoning hinged on, among other things, the notion that individual representatives represent not just the voting population of their district. The Court did not decide whether a district could be drawn on voter-eligible population rather than total population, or whether states and local governments are required to redistrict based on total population.