On June 25, the U.S. Supreme Court summarily affirmed the decision of a 3-judge court in Maryland, in Fletcher v Lamone, 11-1178. Maryland and a handful of other states now draw congressional and legislative districts under the assumption that prisoners should be tallied (for redistricting purposes) in the community in which they lived before they were imprisoned, instead of in the town where the prison is located.
The 3-judge court had upheld Maryland’s system. Today’s summary affirming means that other states are now free to follow the same policy, without fear that that method of counting prisoners is unconstitutional.
New York tried to pass this in 2012 but could not get it passed in both houses of the state legislature.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!
Michael H. Drucker
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