II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5335 

To reform congressional redistricting. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 21, 2022 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To reform congressional redistricting. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Redistricting Reform 

5 Act of 2022’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDING OF CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY. 

7 Congress finds that it has the authority to establish 

8 the terms and conditions States must follow in carrying 

9 out congressional redistricting after an apportionment of 

10 Members of the House of Representatives because— 

11 (1) the authority granted to Congress under ar12 ticle I, section 4 of the Constitution of the United 


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1 States gives Congress the power to enact laws gov2 erning the time, place, and manner of elections for 

3 Members of the House of Representatives; 

4 (2) the authority granted to Congress under 

5 section 5 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitu6 tion gives Congress the power to enact laws to en7 force section 2 of such amendment, which requires 

8 Representatives to be apportioned among the several 

9 States according to their number; 

10 (3) the authority granted to Congress under 

11 section 5 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitu12 tion gives Congress the power to enact laws to en13 force section 1 of such amendment, including protec14 tions against excessive partisan gerrymandering that 

15 Federal courts have not enforced because they un16 derstand such enforcement to be committed to Con17 gress by the Constitution; 

18 (4) of the authority granted to Congress to en19 force article IV, section 4, of the Constitution, and 

20 the guarantee of a Republican Form of Government 

21 to every State, which Federal courts have not en22 forced because they understand such enforcement to 

23 be committed to Congress by the Constitution; 


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1 (5) requiring States to use uniform redistricting 

2 criteria is an appropriate and important exercise of 

3 such authority; and 

4 (6) partisan gerrymandering dilutes citizens’ 

5 votes because partisan gerrymandering injures vot6 ers and political parties by infringing on their 1st 

7 Amendment right to associate freely and their 14th 

8 Amendment right to equal protection of the laws. 

9 SEC. 3. BAN ON MID-DECADE REDISTRICTING. 

10 A State that has been redistricted in accordance with 

11 this Act may not be redistricted again until after the next 

12 apportionment of Representatives under section 22(a) of 

13 the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to provide for the fifteenth and 

14 subsequent decennial censuses and to provide for an ap15 portionment of Representatives in Congress’’, approved 

16 June 18, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 2a), unless a court requires the 

17 State to conduct such subsequent redistricting to comply 

18 with the Constitution of the United States, the Voting 

19 Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10301 et seq.), the terms 

20 or conditions of this Act, or applicable State law. 

21 SEC. 4. CRITERIA FOR REDISTRICTING. 

22 (a) REQUIRING PLANS TO MEET CRITERIA.—A 

23 State may not use a congressional redistricting plan which 

24 is not in compliance with this section. 


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1 (b) RANKED CRITERIA.—Under the redistricting plan 

2 of a State, there shall be established single-member con3 gressional districts using the following criteria as set forth 

4 in the following order of priority: 

5 (1) Districts shall comply with the United 

6 States Constitution, including the requirement that 

7 they substantially equalize total population. 

8 (2) Districts shall comply with the Voting 

9 Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10301 et seq.), in10 cluding by creating any districts where, if based 

11 upon the totality of the circumstances, 2 or more po12 litically cohesive groups protected by such Act are 

13 able to elect representatives of choice in coalition 

14 with one another, and all applicable Federal laws. 

15 (3)(A) Districts shall be drawn, to the extent 

16 that the totality of the circumstances warrant, to en17 sure the practical ability of a group protected under 

18 the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10301 et 

19 seq.) to participate in the political process and to 

20 nominate candidates and to elect representatives of 

21 choice is not diluted or diminished, regardless of 

22 whether or not such protected group constitutes a 

23 majority of a district’s citizen voting age population. 

24 (B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), the as25 sessment of whether a protected group has the pracVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:09 Jan 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5335.IS S5335

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1 tical ability to nominate candidates and to elect rep2 resentatives of choice shall require the consideration 

3 of the following factors: 

4 (i) Whether the group is politically cohe5 sive. 

6 (ii) Whether there is racially polarized vot7 ing in the relevant geographic region. 

8 (iii) If there is racially polarized voting in 

9 the relevant geographic region, whether the pre10 ferred candidates of the group nevertheless re11 ceive a sufficient amount of consistent crossover 

12 support from other voters such that the group 

13 is a functional majority with the ability to both 

14 nominate candidates and elect representatives 

15 of choice. 

16 (4)(A) Districts shall be drawn to respect com17 munities of interest and neighborhoods to the extent 

18 practicable after compliance with the requirements 

19 of paragraphs (1) through (3). A community of in20 terest is defined as an area for which the record be21 fore the entity responsible for developing and adopt22 ing the redistricting plan demonstrates the existence 

23 of broadly shared interests and representational 

24 needs, including shared interests and representa25 tional needs rooted in common ethnic, racial, ecoVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:09 Jan 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5335.IS S5335

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1 nomic, Indian, social, cultural, geographic, or his2 toric identities, or arising from similar socioeconomic 

3 conditions. The term communities of interest may, if 

4 the record warrants, include political subdivisions 

5 such as counties, municipalities, Indian lands, or 

6 school districts, but shall not include common rela7 tionships with political parties or political can8 didates. 

9 (B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), in con10 sidering the needs of multiple, overlapping commu11 nities of interest, the entity responsible for devel12 oping and adopting the redistricting plan shall give 

13 greater weight to those communities of interest 

14 whose representational needs would most benefit 

15 from the community’s inclusion in a single congres16 sional district. 

17 (c) NO FAVORING OR DISFAVORING OF POLITICAL

18 PARTIES.— 

19 (1) PROHIBITION.—A State may not use a re20 districting plan to conduct an election if the plan’s 

21 congressional districts, considered cumulatively on a 

22 statewide basis, have been drawn with the intent, or 

23 have the effect, of materially favoring or disfavoring 

24 any political party. 


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1 (2) DETERMINATION OF EFFECT.—The deter2 mination of whether a redistricting plan has the ef3 fect of materially favoring or disfavoring a political 

4 party shall be based on an evaluation of the totality 

5 of circumstances which, at a minimum, shall involve 

6 consideration of each of the following factors: 

7 (A) Computer modeling based on relevant 

8 statewide general elections for Federal office 

9 held over the 8 years preceding the adoption of 

10 the redistricting plan setting forth the probable 

11 electoral outcomes for the plan under a range 

12 of reasonably foreseeable conditions. 

13 (B) An analysis of whether the redis14 tricting plan is statistically likely to result in 

15 partisan advantage or disadvantage on a state16 wide basis, the degree of any such advantage or 

17 disadvantage, and whether such advantage or 

18 disadvantage is likely to be present under a 

19 range of reasonably foreseeable electoral condi20 tions. 

21 (C) A comparison of the modeled electoral 

22 outcomes for the redistricting plan to the mod23 eled electoral outcomes for alternative plans 

24 that demonstrably comply with the require25 ments of paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of subVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:09 Jan 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5335.IS S5335

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1 section (b) in order to determine whether rea2 sonable alternatives exist that would result in 

3 materially lower levels of partisan advantage or 

4 disadvantage on a statewide basis. For purposes 

5 of this subparagraph, alternative plans consid6 ered may include both actual plans proposed 

7 during the redistricting process and other plans 

8 prepared for purposes of comparison. 

9 (D) Any other relevant information, includ10 ing how broad support for the redistricting plan 

11 was among members of the entity responsible 

12 for developing and adopting the plan and 

13 whether the processes leading to the develop14 ment and adoption of the plan were transparent 

15 and equally open to all members of the entity 

16 and to the public. 

17 (3) REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION.— 

18 (A) TRIGGER.—In any civil action brought 

19 under section 7 in which a party asserts a claim 

20 that a State has enacted a redistricting plan 

21 which is in violation of this subsection, a party 

22 may file a motion not later than 30 days after 

23 the enactment of the plan (or, in the case of a 

24 plan enacted before the effective date of this 

25 Act, not later than 30 days after the effective 


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1 date of this Act) requesting that the court de2 termine whether a presumption of such a viola3 tion exists. If such a motion is timely filed, the 

4 court shall hold a hearing not later than 15 

5 days after the date the motion is filed to assess 

6 whether a presumption of such a violation ex7 ists. 

8 (B) ASSESSMENT.—To make the deter9 mination required under subparagraph (A), the 

10 court shall do the following: 

11 (i) Determine the number of congres12 sional districts under the plan that would 

13 have been carried by each political party’s 

14 candidates for the office of President and 

15 the office of Senator in the 2 most recent 

16 general elections for the office of President 

17 and the 2 most recent general elections for 

18 the office of Senator (other than special 

19 general elections) immediately preceding 

20 the enactment of the plan, except that if a 

21 State conducts a primary election for the 

22 office of Senator which is open to can23 didates of all political parties, the primary 

24 election shall be used instead of the gen25 eral election and the number of districts 


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1 carried by a party’s candidates for the of2 fice of Senator shall be determined on the 

3 basis of the combined vote share of all can4 didates in the election who are affiliated 

5 with such party. 

6 (ii) Determine, for each of the 4 elec7 tions assessed under clause (i), whether 

8 the number of districts that would have 

9 been carried by any party’s candidate as 

10 determined under clause (i) results in par11 tisan advantage or disadvantage in excess 

12 of the applicable threshold described in 

13 subparagraph (C). The degree of partisan 

14 advantage or disadvantage shall be deter15 mined by one or more standard quan16 titative measures of partisan fairness 

17 that— 

18 (I) use a party’s share of the 

19 statewide vote to calculate a cor20 responding benchmark share of seats; 

21 and 

22 (II) measure the amount by 

23 which the share of seats the party’s 

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1 tion involved exceeds the benchmark 

2 share of seats. 

3 (C) APPLICABLE THRESHOLD DE4 SCRIBED.—The applicable threshold described 

5 in this subparagraph is, with respect to a State 

6 and a number of seats, the greater of— 

7 (i) an amount equal to 7 percent of 

8 the number of congressional districts in 

9 the State; or 

10 (ii) one congressional district. 

11 (D) DESCRIPTION OF QUANTITATIVE

12 MEASURES; PROHIBITING ROUNDING.—In car13 rying out this subsection— 

14 (i) the standard quantitative measures 

15 of partisan fairness used by the court may 

16 include the simplified efficiency gap but 

17 may not include strict proportionality; and 

18 (ii) the court may not round any num19 ber. 

20 (E) PRESUMPTION OF VIOLATION.—A plan 

21 is presumed to violate paragraph (1) if it ex22 ceeds the threshold described in subparagraph 

23 (C) with respect to 2 or more of the 4 elections 

24 assessed under subparagraph (B). 


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1 (F) STAY OF USE OF PLAN.—Notwith2 standing any other provision of this Act, in any 

3 action under this paragraph, the following rules 

4 shall apply: 

5 (i) Upon filing of a motion under sub6 paragraph (A), a State’s use of the plan 

7 which is the subject of the motion shall be 

8 automatically stayed pending resolution of 

9 such motion. 

10 (ii) If after considering the motion, 

11 the court rules that the plan is presumed 

12 under subparagraph (E) to violate para13 graph (1), a State may not use such plan 

14 until and unless the court which is car15 rying out the determination of the effect of 

16 the plan under paragraph (2) determines 

17 that, notwithstanding the presumptive vio18 lation, the plan does not violate paragraph 

19 (1). 

20 (G) NO EFFECT ON OTHER ASSESS21 MENTS.—The absence of a presumption of a 

22 violation with respect to a redistricting plan as 

23 determined under this paragraph shall not af24 fect the determination of the effect of the plan 

25 under paragraph (2). 


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1 (4) DETERMINATION OF INTENT.—A court may 

2 rely on all available evidence when determining 

3 whether a redistricting plan was drawn with the in4 tent to materially favor or disfavor a political party, 

5 including evidence of the partisan effects of a plan, 

6 the degree of support the plan received from mem7 bers of the entity responsible for developing and 

8 adopting the plan, and whether the processes leading 

9 to development and adoption of the plan were trans10 parent and equally open to all members of the entity 

11 and to the public. 

12 (5) NO VIOLATION BASED ON CERTAIN CRI13 TERIA.—No redistricting plan shall be found to be 

14 in violation of paragraph (1) because of the proper 

15 application of the criteria set forth in paragraph (1), 

16 (2), or (3) of subsection (b), unless one or more al17 ternative plans could have complied with such para18 graphs without having the effect of materially favor19 ing or disfavoring a political party. 

20 (d) FACTORS PROHIBITED FROM CONSIDERATION.— 

21 In developing the redistricting plan for the State, the 

22 State may not take into consideration any of the following 

23 factors, except as necessary to comply with the criteria 

24 described in paragraphs (1) through (3) of subsection (b), 

25 to achieve partisan fairness and comply with subsection 


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1 (c), and to enable the redistricting plan to be measured 

2 against the external metrics described in section 5(c): 

3 (1) The residence of any Member of the House 

4 of Representatives or candidate. 

5 (2) The political party affiliation or voting his6 tory of the population of a district. 

7 (e) ADDITIONAL CRITERIA.—A State may not rely 

8 upon criteria not set forth in this section to justify non9 compliance with the requirements of this section. 

10 (f) APPLICABILITY.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—This section applies to any 

12 authority, whether appointed, elected, judicial, or 

13 otherwise, responsible for enacting the congressional 

14 redistricting plan of a State. 

15 (2) DATE OF ENACTMENT.—This section ap16 plies to any congressional redistricting plan that 

17 would be, or is, in effect after the date of enactment 

18 of this Act, regardless of the date of enactment by 

19 the State of the congressional redistricting plan. 

20 (g) SEVERABILITY OF CRITERIA.—If any of the cri21 teria set forth in this section or any amendment made by 

22 this section, or the application of such criteria to any per23 son, circumstance, or amendment, is held to be unconstitu24 tional, the remaining criteria set forth in this section, and 

25 the application of such criteria to any person, cirVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:09 Jan 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5335.IS S5335

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1 cumstance, or amendment, shall not be affected by the 

2 holding. 

3 SEC. 5. DEVELOPMENT OF PLAN. 

4 (a) PUBLIC NOTICE AND INPUT.— 

5 (1) USE OF OPEN AND TRANSPARENT PROC6 ESS.—The entity responsible for developing and 

7 adopting the congressional redistricting plan of a 

8 State shall solicit and take into consideration com9 ments from the public throughout the process of de10 veloping the plan, and shall carry out its duties in 

11 an open and transparent manner which provides for 

12 the widest public dissemination reasonably possible 

13 of its proposed and final redistricting plans. 

14 (2) WEBSITE.— 

15 (A) FEATURES.—The entity shall maintain 

16 a public internet site which is not affiliated with 

17 or maintained by the office of any elected offi18 cial and which includes the following features: 

19 (i) All proposed redistricting plans 

20 and the final redistricting plan, including 

21 the accompanying written evaluation under 

22 subsection (c). 

23 (ii) All comments received from the 

24 public submitted under paragraph (1). 


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1 (iii) Access in an easily usable format 

2 to the demographic and other data used by 

3 the entity to develop and analyze the pro4 posed redistricting plans, together with any 

5 reports analyzing and evaluating such 

6 plans and access to software that members 

7 of the public may use to draw maps of pro8 posed districts. 

9 (iv) A method by which members of 

10 the public may submit comments directly 

11 to the entity. 

12 (B) SEARCHABLE FORMAT.—The entity 

13 shall ensure that all information posted and 

14 maintained on the site under this paragraph, 

15 including information and proposed maps sub16 mitted by the public, shall be maintained in an 

17 easily searchable format. 

18 (3) MULTIPLE LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS FOR

19 ALL NOTICES.—The entity responsible for developing 

20 and adopting the plan shall make each notice which 

21 is required to be posted and published under this 

22 section available in any language in which the State 

23 (or any jurisdiction in the State) is required to pro24 vide election materials under section 203 of the Vot25 ing Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10503). 


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1 (b) DEVELOPMENT OF PLAN.— 

2 (1) HEARINGS.—The entity responsible for de3 veloping and adopting the congressional redistricting 

4 plan shall hold hearings both before and after releas5 ing proposed plans in order to solicit public input on 

6 the content of such plans. These hearings shall— 

7 (A) be held in different regions of the 

8 State and streamed live on the public internet 

9 site maintained under subsection (a)(2); 

10 (B) be sufficient in number, scheduled at 

11 times and places, and noticed and conducted in 

12 a manner to ensure that all members of the 

13 public, including members of racial, ethnic, and 

14 language minorities protected under the Voting 

15 Rights Act of 1965, have a meaningful oppor16 tunity to attend and provide input both before 

17 and after the entity releases proposed plans. 

18 (2) POSTING OF MAPS.—The entity responsible 

19 for developing and adopting the congressional redis20 tricting plan shall make proposed plans, amend21 ments to proposed plans, and the data needed to 

22 analyze such plans for compliance with the criteria 

23 of this Act available for public review, including on 

24 the public internet site required under subsection 

25 (a)(2), for a period of not less than 5 days before 


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1 any vote or hearing is held on any such plan or any 

2 amendment to such a plan. 

3 (c) WRITTEN EVALUATION OF PLAN AGAINST EX4 TERNAL METRICS.—The entity responsible for developing 

5 and adopting the congressional redistricting plan for a 

6 State shall include with each redistricting plan voted upon 

7 by such entity, or a committee of such entity, and pub8 lished under this section a written evaluation that meas9 ures each such plan against external metrics which cover 

10 the criteria set forth in section 4(b), including the impact 

11 of the plan on the ability of members of a class of citizens 

12 protected by the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 

13 10301 et seq.) to elect candidates of choice, the degree 

14 to which the plan preserves or divides communities of in15 terest, and any analysis used by the State to assess com16 pliance with the requirements of section 4(b) and (c). 

17 (d) PUBLIC INPUT AND COMMENTS.—The entity re18 sponsible for developing and adopting the congressional 

19 redistricting plan for a State shall make all public com20 ments received about potential plans, including alternative 

21 plans, available to the public on the internet site required 

22 under subsection (a)(2), at no cost, not later than 24 

23 hours prior to holding a vote on final adoption of a plan. 

24 SEC. 6. FAILURE BY STATE TO ENACT PLAN. 

25 (a) DEADLINE FOR ENACTMENT OF PLAN.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para2 graph (2), each State shall enact a final congres3 sional redistricting plan following transmission of a 

4 notice of apportionment to the President by the ear5 liest of— 

6 (A) the deadline set forth in State law, in7 cluding any extension to the deadline provided 

8 in accordance with State law; 

9 (B) February 15 of the year in which reg10 ularly scheduled general elections for Federal 

11 office are held in the State; or 

12 (C) 90 days before the date of the next 

13 regularly scheduled primary election for Federal 

14 office held in the State. 

15 (2) SPECIAL RULE FOR PLANS ENACTED PRIOR

16 TO EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS ACT.—If a State en17 acted a final congressional redistricting plan prior to 

18 the effective date of this Act and the plan is not in 

19 compliance with the requirements of this Act, the 

20 State shall enact a final redistricting plan which is 

21 in compliance with the requirements of this Act not 

22 later than 45 days after the effective date of this 

23 Act. 

24 (b) DEVELOPMENT OF PLAN BY COURT IN CASE OF

25 MISSED DEADLINE.—If a State has not enacted a final 


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1 congressional redistricting plan by the applicable deadline 

2 under subsection (a), or it appears likely that a State will 

3 fail to enact a final congressional redistricting plan by 

4 such deadline— 

5 (1) any citizen of the State may file an action 

6 in the United States district court for the applicable 

7 venue asking the district court to assume jurisdic8 tion; 

9 (2) the United States district court for the ap10 plicable venue, acting through a 3-judge court con11 vened pursuant to section 2284 of title 28, United 

12 States Code, shall have the exclusive authority to de13 velop and publish the congressional redistricting 

14 plan for the State; and 

15 (3) the final congressional redistricting plan de16 veloped and published by the court under this sec17 tion shall be deemed to be enacted on the date on 

18 which the court publishes the final congressional re19 districting plan, as described in subsection (e). 

20 (c) APPLICABLE VENUE.—For purposes of this sec21 tion, the ‘‘applicable venue’’ with respect to a State is the 

22 District of Columbia or the judicial district in which the 

23 capital of the State is located, as selected by the first party 

24 to file with the court sufficient evidence that a State has 

25 failed to, or is reasonably likely to fail to, enact a final 


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1 redistricting plan for the State prior to the expiration of 

2 the applicable deadline set forth in subsection (a). 

3 (d) PROCEDURES FOR DEVELOPMENT OF PLAN.— 

4 (1) CRITERIA.—In developing a redistricting 

5 plan for a State under this section, the court shall 

6 adhere to the same terms and conditions that ap7 plied (or that would have applied, as the case may 

8 be) to the development of a plan by the State under 

9 section 4. 

10 (2) ACCESS TO INFORMATION AND RECORDS.— 

11 The court shall have access to any information, 

12 data, software, or other records and material that 

13 was used (or that would have been used, as the case 

14 may be) by the State in carrying out its duties 

15 under this Act. 

16 (3) HEARING; PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.—In de17 veloping a redistricting plan for a State, the court 

18 shall— 

19 (A) hold one or more evidentiary hearings 

20 at which interested members of the public may 

21 appear and be heard and present testimony, in22 cluding expert testimony, in accordance with 

23 the rules of the court; and 

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1 districting plans to cover the entire State or 

2 any portion of the State. 

3 (4) USE OF SPECIAL MASTER.—To assist in the 

4 development and publication of a redistricting plan 

5 for a State under this section, the court may appoint 

6 a special master to make recommendations to the 

7 court on possible plans for the State. 

8 (e) PUBLICATION OF PLAN.— 

9 (1) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF INITIAL PLAN.— 

10 Upon completing the development of one or more 

11 initial redistricting plans, the court shall make the 

12 plans available to the public at no cost, and shall 

13 also make available the underlying data used to de14 velop the plans and a written evaluation of the plans 

15 against external metrics (as described in section 

16 5(c)). 

17 (2) PUBLICATION OF FINAL PLAN.—At any 

18 time after the expiration of the 14-day period which 

19 begins on the date the court makes the plans avail20 able to the public under paragraph (1), and taking 

21 into consideration any submissions and comments by 

22 the public which are received during such period, the 

23 court shall develop and publish the final redistricting 

24 plan for the State. 


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1 (f) USE OF INTERIM PLAN.—In the event that the 

2 court is not able to develop and publish a final redis3 tricting plan for the State with sufficient time for an up4 coming election to proceed, the court may develop and 

5 publish an interim redistricting plan which shall serve as 

6 the redistricting plan for the State until the court develops 

7 and publishes a final plan in accordance with this section. 

8 Nothing in this subsection may be construed to limit or 

9 otherwise affect the authority or discretion of the court 

10 to develop and publish the final redistricting plan, includ11 ing the discretion to make any changes the court deems 

12 necessary to an interim redistricting plan. 

13 (g) APPEALS.—Review on appeal of any final or in14 terim plan adopted by the court in accordance with this 

15 section shall be governed by the appellate process in sec16 tion 7. 

17 (h) STAY OF STATE PROCEEDINGS.—The filing of an 

18 action under this section shall act as a stay of any pro19 ceedings in State court with respect to the State’s congres20 sional redistricting plan unless otherwise ordered by the 

21 court. 

22 SEC. 7. CIVIL ENFORCEMENT. 

23 (a) CIVIL ENFORCEMENT.— 


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1 (1) ACTIONS BY ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The At2 torney General may bring a civil action for such re3 lief as may be appropriate to carry out this Act. 

4 (2) AVAILABILITY OF PRIVATE RIGHT OF AC5 TION.— 

6 (A) IN GENERAL.—Any citizen of a State 

7 who is aggrieved by the failure of the State to 

8 meet the requirements of the Constitution or 

9 Federal law, including this Act, with respect to 

10 the State’s congressional redistricting, may 

11 bring a civil action in the United States district 

12 court for the applicable venue for such relief as 

13 may be appropriate to remedy the failure. 

14 (B) SPECIAL RULE FOR CLAIMS RELATING

15 TO PARTISAN ADVANTAGE.—For purposes of 

16 subparagraph (A), a person who is aggrieved by 

17 the failure of a State to meet the requirements 

18 of section 4(c) may include— 

19 (i) any political party or committee in 

20 the State; and 

21 (ii) any registered voter in the State 

22 who resides in a congressional district that 

23 the voter alleges was drawn in a manner 

24 that contributes to a violation of such sec25 tion. 


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1 (C) NO AWARDING OF DAMAGES TO PRE2 VAILING PARTY.—Except for an award of attor3 ney’s fees under subsection (d), a court in a 

4 civil action under this section shall not award 

5 the prevailing party any monetary damages, 

6 compensatory, punitive, or otherwise. 

7 (3) DELIVERY OF COMPLAINT TO HOUSE AND

8 SENATE.—In any action brought under this section, 

9 a copy of the complaint shall be delivered promptly 

10 to the Clerk of the House of Representatives and the 

11 Secretary of the Senate. 

12 (4) EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION AND APPLICABLE

13 VENUE.— 

14 (A) IN GENERAL.—The district courts of 

15 the United States shall have exclusive jurisdic16 tion to hear and determine claims asserting 

17 that a congressional redistricting plan violates 

18 the requirements of the Constitution or Federal 

19 law, including this Act. 

20 (B) APPLICABLE VENUE.—The applicable 

21 venue for such an action shall be the United 

22 States District Court for the District of Colum23 bia or for the judicial district in which the cap24 ital of the State is located, as selected by the 

25 person bringing the action. 


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1 (C) SPECIAL RULE.—In a civil action that 

2 includes a claim that a redistricting plan is in 

3 violation of subsection (b) or (c) of section 4 

4 the United States District Court for the Dis5 trict of Columbia shall have jurisdiction over 

6 any defendant who has been served in any 

7 United States judicial district in which the de8 fendant resides, is found, or has an agent, or in 

9 the United States judicial district in which the 

10 capital of the State is located. 

11 (D) PROCESS.—Process may be served in 

12 any United States judicial district where a de13 fendant resides, is found, or has an agent, or in 

14 the United States judicial district in which the 

15 capital of the State is located. 

16 (5) USE OF 3-JUDGE COURT.—If an action 

17 under this section raises statewide claims under the 

18 Constitution or this Act, the action shall be heard by 

19 a 3-judge court convened pursuant to section 2284 

20 of title 28, United States Code. 

21 (6) REVIEW OF FINAL DECISION.—A final deci22 sion in an action brought under this section shall be 

23 reviewable on appeal by the United States Court of 

24 Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. There 

25 shall be no right of appeal in such proceedings to 


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1 any other court of appeals. Such appeal shall be 

2 taken by the filing of a notice of appeal within 10 

3 days of the entry of the final decision. A final deci4 sion by the Court of Appeals may be reviewed by the 

5 Supreme Court of the United States by writ of cer6 tiorari. 

7 (b) EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION.—In any action 

8 brought under this section, it shall be the duty of the dis9 trict court, the United States Court of Appeals for the 

10 District of Columbia Circuit, and the Supreme Court of 

11 the United States (if it chooses to hear the action) to ad12 vance on the docket and to expedite to the greatest pos13 sible extent the disposition of the action and appeal. 

14 (c) REMEDIES.— 

15 (1) ADOPTION OF REPLACEMENT PLAN.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—If the district court in 

17 an action under this section finds that the con18 gressional redistricting plan of a State violates, 

19 in whole or in part, the requirements of this 

20 Act— 

21 (i) the court shall adopt a replacement 

22 congressional redistricting plan for the 

23 State in accordance with the process set 

24 forth in section 6; or 


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1 (ii) if circumstances warrant and no 

2 delay to an upcoming regularly scheduled 

3 election for the House of Representatives 

4 in the State would result, the district 

5 court, in its discretion, may allow a State 

6 to develop and propose a remedial congres7 sional redistricting plan for review by the 

8 court to determine whether the plan is in 

9 compliance with this Act, except that— 

10 (I) the State may not develop 

11 and propose a remedial plan under 

12 this clause if the court determines 

13 that the congressional redistricting 

14 plan of the State was enacted with 

15 discriminatory intent in violation of 

16 the Constitution or section 4(b); and 

17 (II) nothing in this clause may be 

18 construed to permit a State to use 

19 such a remedial plan which has not 

20 been approved by the court. 

21 (B) PROHIBITING USE OF PLANS IN VIOLA22 TION OF REQUIREMENTS.—No court shall order 

23 a State to use a congressional redistricting plan 

24 which violates, in whole or in part, the require25 ments of this Act, or to conduct an election 


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1 under terms and conditions which violate, in 

2 whole or in part, the requirements of this Act. 

3 (C) SPECIAL RULE IN CASE FINAL ADJU4 DICATION NOT EXPECTED WITHIN 3 MONTHS

5 OF ELECTION.— 

6 (i) DUTY OF COURT.—If final adju7 dication of an action under this section is 

8 not reasonably expected to be completed at 

9 least 3 months prior to the next regularly 

10 scheduled primary election for the House 

11 of Representatives in the State, the district 

12 court shall, as the balance of equities war13 rant— 

14 (I) develop, adopt, and order the 

15 use of an interim congressional redis16 tricting plan in accordance with sec17 tion 6(f) to address any claims under 

18 this Act for which a party seeking re19 lief has demonstrated a substantial 

20 likelihood of success; or 

21 (II) order adjustments to the 

22 timing of primary elections for the 

23 House of Representatives and other 

24 related deadlines, as needed, to allow 

25 sufficient opportunity for adjudication 


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1 of the matter and adoption of a reme2 dial or replacement plan for use in the 

3 next regularly scheduled general elec4 tions for the House of Representa5 tives. 

6 (ii) PROHIBITING FAILURE TO ACT ON

7 GROUNDS OF PENDENCY OF ELECTION.— 

8 The court may not refuse to take any ac9 tion described in clause (i) on the grounds 

10 of the pendency of the next election held in 

11 the State or the potential for disruption, 

12 confusion, or additional burdens with re13 spect to the administration of the election 

14 in the State. 

15 (2) NO STAY PENDING APPEAL.—Notwith16 standing the appeal of an order finding that a con17 gressional redistricting plan of a State violates, in 

18 whole or in part, the requirements of this Act, no 

19 stay shall issue which shall bar the development or 

20 adoption of a replacement or remedial plan under 

21 this subsection, as may be directed by the district 

22 court, pending such appeal. If such a replacement or 

23 remedial plan has been adopted, no appellate court 

24 may stay or otherwise enjoin the use of such plan 

25 during the pendency of an appeal, except upon an 


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1 order holding, based on the record, that adoption of 

2 such plan was an abuse of discretion. 

3 (3) SPECIAL AUTHORITY OF COURT OF AP4 PEALS.— 

5 (A) ORDERING OF NEW REMEDIAL

6 PLAN.—If, upon consideration of an appeal 

7 under this Act, the Court of Appeals determines 

8 that a plan does not comply with the require9 ments of this Act, it shall direct that the Dis10 trict Court promptly develop a new remedial 

11 plan with assistance of a special master for con12 sideration by the Court of Appeals. 

13 (B) FAILURE OF DISTRICT COURT TO

14 TAKE TIMELY ACTION.—If, at any point during 

15 the pendency of an action under this section, 

16 the District Court fails to take action necessary 

17 to permit resolution of the case prior to the 

18 next regularly scheduled election for the House 

19 of Representatives in the State or fails to grant 

20 the relief described in paragraph (1)(C), any 

21 party may seek a writ of mandamus from the 

22 Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia 

23 Circuit. The Court of Appeals shall have juris24 diction over the motion for a writ of mandamus 

25 and shall establish an expedited briefing and 


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1 hearing schedule for resolution of the motion. If 

2 the Court of Appeals determines that a writ 

3 should be granted, the Court of Appeals shall 

4 take any action necessary, including developing 

5 a congressional redistricting plan with assist6 ance of a special master to ensure that a reme7 dial plan is adopted in time for use in the next 

8 regularly scheduled election for the House of 

9 Representatives in the State. 

10 (4) EFFECT OF ENACTMENT OF REPLACEMENT

11 PLAN.—A State’s enactment of a redistricting plan 

12 which replaces a plan which is the subject of an ac13 tion under this section shall not be construed to 

14 limit or otherwise affect the authority of the court 

15 to adjudicate or grant relief with respect to any 

16 claims or issues not addressed by the replacement 

17 plan, including claims that the plan which is the 

18 subject of the action was enacted, in whole or in 

19 part, with discriminatory intent, or claims to con20 sider whether relief should be granted under section 

21 3(c) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 

22 10302(c)) based on the plan which is the subject of 

23 the action. 

24 (d) ATTORNEY’S FEES.—In a civil action under this 

25 section, the court may allow the prevailing party (other 


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1 than the United States) reasonable attorney fees, includ2 ing litigation expenses, and costs. 

3 (e) RELATION TO OTHER LAWS.— 

4 (1) RIGHTS AND REMEDIES ADDITIONAL TO

5 OTHER RIGHTS AND REMEDIES.—The rights and 

6 remedies established by this section are in addition 

7 to all other rights and remedies provided by law, and 

8 neither the rights and remedies established by this 

9 section nor any other provision of this Act shall su10 persede, restrict, or limit the application of the Vot11 ing Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10301 et seq.). 

12 (2) VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965.—Nothing in 

13 this Act authorizes or requires conduct that is pro14 hibited by the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 

15 10301 et seq.). 

16 (f) LEGISLATIVE PRIVILEGE.—No person, legisla17 ture, or State may claim legislative privilege under either 

18 State or Federal law in a civil action brought under this 

19 section or in any other legal challenge, under either State 

20 or Federal law, to a redistricting plan enacted under this 

21 Act. 

22 (g) REMOVAL.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—At any time, a civil action 

24 brought in a State court which asserts a claim for 

25 which the district courts of the United States have 


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1 exclusive jurisdiction under this Act may be removed 

2 by any party in the case, including an intervenor, by 

3 filing, in the district court for an applicable venue 

4 under this section, a notice of removal signed pursu5 ant to Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Proce6 dure containing a short and plain statement of the 

7 grounds for removal. Consent of parties shall not be 

8 required for removal. 

9 (2) CLAIMS NOT WITHIN THE ORIGINAL OR

10 SUPPLEMENTAL JURISDICTION.—If a civil action re11 moved in accordance with paragraph (1) contains 

12 claims not within the original or supplemental juris13 diction of the district court, the district court shall 

14 sever all such claims and remand them to the State 

15 court from which the action was removed. 

16 SEC. 8. NO EFFECT ON ELECTIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL 

17 OFFICE. 

18 Nothing in this Act or in any amendment made by 

19 this Act may be construed to affect the manner in which 

20 a State carries out elections for State or local office, in21 cluding the process by which a State establishes the dis22 tricts used in such elections. 


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1 SEC. 9. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

2 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 

3 apply on the date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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