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Federal court strikes Georgia legislative redistricting plan

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia has voided Georgia's legislative redistricting plan and upheld its congressional plan -- each was attacked for violation of the one-person-one-vote standard. The opinion is here.

On the legislative plan, the court held that it violated one-person-one-vote because it had a 9.98% deviation and "there are no legitimate, consistently applied state policies which justify these population deviations." Instead the plan consistently under-populated districts in inner-city Atlanta and south Georgia (both likely to elect Democrats), as well as districts of incumbent Democrats.

The congressional plan's 72-person deviation was approved because it was supported by a policy of avoiding additional precinct splits and using easily recognizable boundaries.

Thanks to Tim Storey for the link.

UPDATE: and thanks to Bryan Tyson for reminding me that nearly all the pleadings and briefs in the case are here.

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