I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2248 

To prohibit States from carrying out more than one Congressional redistricting after a decennial census and apportionment, to require States 

to conduct such redistricting through independent commissions, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 9, 2007 

Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California (for herself, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. COSTA, Mr. 

CARDOZA, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. FARR, Mr. FILNER, Ms. HARMAN, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. MCNERNEY, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, 

Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. LINDA T. SA ́NCHEZ of California, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. SHERMAN, Ms. SOLIS, Mr. 

STARK, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. HONDA, and Ms. MCCOLLUM of Minnesota) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To prohibit States from carrying out more than one Congressional redistricting after a decennial census and apportionment, to require States to conduct such redistricting 

through independent commissions, and for other purposes. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDING OF CONSTITUTIONAL 

2 AUTHORITY. 

3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

4 ‘‘Redistricting Reform Act of 2007’’. 

5 (b) FINDING.—Congress finds that it has the author6 ity to establish the terms and conditions States must fol7 low in carrying out Congressional redistricting after an 

8 apportionment of Members of the House of Representa9 tives because— 

10 (1) the authority granted to Congress under ar11 ticle I, section 4 of the Constitution of the United 

12 States gives Congress the power to enact laws gov13 erning the time, place, and manner of elections for 

14 Members of the House of Representatives; and 

15 (2) the authority granted to Congress under 

16 section 5 of the fourteenth amendment to the Con17 stitution gives Congress the power to enact laws to 

18 enforce section 2 of such amendment, which requires 

19 Representatives to be apportioned among the several 

20 States according to their number. 

21 SEC. 2. LIMIT ON CONGRESSIONAL REDISTRICTING AFTER 

22 AN APPORTIONMENT. 

23 The Act entitled ‘‘An Act for the relief of Doctor Ri24 cardo Vallejo Samala and to provide for congressional re25 districting’’, approved December 14, 1967 (2 U.S.C. 2c), 

26 is amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘A State 


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1 which has been redistricted in the manner provided by law 

2 after an apportionment under section 22(a) of the Act en3 titled ‘An Act to provide for the fifteenth and subsequent 

4 decennial censuses and to provide for an apportionment 

5 of Representatives in Congress’, approved June 18, 1929 

6 (2 U.S.C. 2a), may not be redistricted again until after 

7 the next apportionment of Representatives under such sec8 tion, unless a court requires the State to conduct such 

9 subsequent redistricting to comply with the Constitution 

10 or to enforce the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 

11 1973 et seq.).’’. 

12 SEC. 3. REQUIRING REDISTRICTING TO BE CONDUCTED 

13 THROUGH PLAN OF INDEPENDENT STATE 

14 COMMISSION OR PLAN OF HIGHEST STATE 

15 COURT. 

16 (a) USE OF PLAN REQUIRED.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

18 provision of law, any Congressional redistricting con19 ducted by a State shall be conducted in accordance 

20 with— 

21 (A) the redistricting plan developed by the 

22 independent redistricting commission estab23 lished in the State, in accordance with section 

24 5; or 


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1 (B) if the plan developed by such commis2 sion is not enacted into law, the redistricting 

3 plan selected by the highest court in the State 

4 or developed by a United States district court, 

5 in accordance with section 6. 

6 (2) OTHER CRITERIA AND PROCEDURES PER7 MITTED.—Nothing in this Act or the amendments 

8 made by this Act may be construed to prohibit a 

9 State from conducting Congressional redistricting in 

10 accordance with such criteria and procedures as the 

11 State considers appropriate, to the extent that such 

12 criteria and procedures are consistent with the appli13 cable requirements of this Act and the amendments 

14 made by this Act. 

15 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 22(c) of 

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

17 subsequent decennial censuses and to provide for an ap18 portionment of Representatives in Congress’’, approved 

19 June 18, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 2a(c)), is amended by striking 

20 ‘‘in the manner provided by the law thereof’’ and insert21 ing: ‘‘in the manner provided by the Redistricting Reform 

22 Act of 2007’’. 

23 SEC. 4. INDEPENDENT, BI-PARTISAN REDISTRICTING COM24 MISSION. 

25 (a) APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall establish 

2 an independent redistricting commission composed 

3 of the following: 

4 (A) A chair, who shall be appointed by ma5 jority vote of the other members of the commis6 sion. 

7 (B) An equal number of members (but not 

8 fewer than 1) from each of the following cat9 egories: 

10 (i) Members affiliated with the polit11 ical party with the greatest number of 

12 seats in the upper house of the State legis13 lature, who shall be appointed by the mem14 bers of that house who represent the polit15 ical party with the second greatest number 

16 of seats in that house. 

17 (ii) Members affiliated with the polit18 ical party with the second greatest number 

19 of seats in the upper house of the State 

20 legislature, who shall be appointed by the 

21 members of that house who represent the 

22 political party with the greatest number of 

23 seats in that house. 

24 (iii) Members affiliated with the polit25 ical party with the greatest number of 


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1 seats in the lower house of the State legis2 lature, who shall be appointed by the mem3 bers of that house who represent the polit4 ical party with the second greatest number 

5 of seats in that house. 

6 (iv) Members affiliated with the polit7 ical party with the second greatest number 

8 of seats in the lower house of the State 

9 legislature, who shall be appointed by the 

10 members of that house who represent the 

11 political party with the greatest number of 

12 seats in that house. 

13 (C) A number of members who are not af14 filiated with any of the political parties referred 

15 to in subparagraph (B), who shall be appointed 

by not fewer than 2 16 ⁄3 of the members appointed 

17 under subparagraph (B), such that the percent18 age of the members of the commission who are 

19 appointed under this subparagraph is equal to 

20 the percentage of registered voters in the State 

21 who are not affiliated with any of the political 

22 parties referred to in subparagraph (B) (with 

23 respect to the most recent statewide election for 

24 Federal office held in the State for which such 

25 information is available). 


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1 (2) SPECIAL RULE FOR STATES WITH UNICAM2 ERAL LEGISLATURE.—In the case of a State with a 

3 unicameral legislature, the independent redistricting 

4 commission established under this subsection shall 

5 be composed of the following: 

6 (A) A chair, who shall be appointed by ma7 jority vote of the other members of the commis8 sion. 

9 (B) An equal number of members (but not 

10 fewer than 2) from each of the following cat11 egories: 

12 (i) Members appointed by a member 

13 of the legislature who shall be selected by 

14 the chair of the Government Affairs Com15 mittee of the legislature to represent the 

16 State political party whose candidate for 

17 chief executive of the State received the 

18 greatest number of votes on average in the 

19 3 most recent general elections for that of20 fice. 

21 (ii) Members appointed by a member 

22 of the legislature who shall be selected by 

23 the chair of the Government Affairs Com24 mittee of the legislature to represent the 

25 State political party whose candidate for 


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1 chief executive of the State received the 

2 second greatest number of votes on aver3 age in the 3 most recent general elections 

4 for that office. 

5 (C) A number of members who are not af6 filiated with any of the political parties referred 

7 to in subparagraph (B), who shall be appointed 

by not fewer than 2 8 ⁄3 of the members appointed 

9 under subparagraph (B), such that the percent10 age of the members of the commission who are 

11 appointed under this subparagraph is equal to 

12 the percentage of registered voters in the State 

13 who are not affiliated with any of the political 

14 parties referred to in subparagraph (B) (with 

15 respect to the most recent statewide election for 

16 Federal office held in the State for which such 

17 information is available). 

18 (3) DETERMINATION OF POLITICAL PARTY AF19 FILIATION.—For purposes of this subsection, an in20 dividual shall be considered to be affiliated with a 

21 political party if the individual is registered with the 

22 party with respect to each of the 3 most recent elec23 tions for Federal office occurring prior to the indi24 vidual’s appointment. 

25 (b) ELIGIBILITY.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—An individual is eligible to 

2 serve as a member of an independent redistricting 

3 commission if— 

4 (A) as of the date of appointment, the in5 dividual is registered to vote in elections for 

6 Federal office held in the State, and was reg7 istered to vote in the 2 most recent general 

8 elections for Federal office held in the State; 

9 (B) the individual did not hold public office 

10 or run as a candidate for election for public of11 fice, or serve as an employee of a political party 

12 or candidate for election for public office, at 

13 any time during the 4-year period ending on the 

14 December 31 preceding the date of appoint15 ment; and 

16 (C) the individual certifies that he or she 

17 will not run as a candidate for the office of 

18 Representative in the Congress until after the 

19 next apportionment of Representatives under 

20 section 22(a) of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to 

21 provide for the fifteenth and subsequent decen22 nial censuses and to provide for an apportion23 ment of Representatives in Congress’’, approved 

24 June 18, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 2a). 


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1 (2) DISCRIMINATION.—The membership of the 

2 Commission shall not be selected in a manner which 

3 results in a denial or abridgement of the right of any 

4 citizen of the United States to vote on account of 

5 race or color. A violation of this subsection is estab6 lished if, based on the totality of circumstances, it 

7 is shown that the membership of the Commission is 

8 not equally open to participation by members of a 

9 class of citizens protected by this subsection in that 

10 its members have less opportunity than other mem11 bers of the electorate to participate in the political 

12 process and to elect representatives of their choice. 

13 (c) VACANCY.—A vacancy in the commission shall be 

14 filled in the manner in which the original appointment was 

15 made. 

16 (d) DEADLINE.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall establish a 

18 commission under this section, and the members of 

19 the commission shall appoint the commission’s chair, 

20 not later than the first February 1 which occurs 

21 after the chief executive of a State receives the State 

22 apportionment notice. 

23 (2) APPOINTMENT OF CHAIR REQUIRED PRIOR

24 TO DEVELOPMENT OF REDISTRICTING PLAN.—The 

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1 districting plan for the State under section 5 until 

2 the appointment of the commission’s chair. 

3 (e) REQUIRING MAJORITY APPROVAL FOR AC4 TIONS.—The independent redistricting commission of a 

5 State may not submit a redistricting plan to the State leg6 islature, or take any other action, without the approval 

7 of at least a majority of its members given at a meeting 

8 at which at least a majority of its members are present. 

9 (f) TERMINATION.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The independent redis11 tricting commission of a State shall terminate on the 

12 day after the date of the first regularly scheduled 

13 general election for Federal office which occurs after 

14 the chief executive of the State receives the State 

15 apportionment notice. 

16 (2) PRESERVATION OF RECORDS.—The State 

17 shall ensure that the records of the independent re18 districting commission are retained in the appro19 priate State archive in such manner as may be nec20 essary to enable the State to respond to any civil ac21 tion brought with respect to Congressional redis22 tricting in the State. 


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1 SEC. 5. DEVELOPMENT OF REDISTRICTING PLAN BY INDE2 PENDENT COMMISSION; PUBLIC NOTICE AND 

3 INPUT. 

4 (a) DEVELOPMENT OF REDISTRICTING PLAN.— 

5 (1) CRITERIA.—The independent redistricting 

6 commission of a State shall develop a redistricting 

7 plan for the State in accordance with the following 

8 criteria: 

9 (A) Districts shall comply with the Con10 stitution of the United States and the Voting 

11 Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 1971 et seq.). 

12 The plan shall neither disperse nor concentrate 

13 minority populations protected under the Vot14 ing Rights Act in a manner that has an adverse 

15 effect on their ability to elect their candidate of 

16 choice. 

17 (B) District boundaries shall respect com18 munities of interest to the extent practicable. 

19 Communities of interest shall include, but not 

20 be limited to, shared socio-economic status 

21 characteristics, history of joint governmental co22 operation, housing characteristics, language at 

23 home, educational attainment levels, and neigh24 borhoods. Communities of interest shall not be 

25 defined as representation by a particular legis26 lator. 


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1 (C) Districts shall each have equal popu2 lation per representative, to the extent prac3 ticable, and in accordance with federal constitu4 tional standards. 

5 (D) Districts shall be geographically con6 tiguous. 

7 (E) To the extent practicable, district lines 

8 shall use visible geographic features and shall 

9 remain within geographic boundaries. 

10 (F) To the extent practicable and con11 sistent with subparagraphs (A), (B), (C), (D), 

12 and (E), district lines shall use city and county 

13 boundaries, or undivided census tracts or block 

14 groups. 

15 (G) To the extent practicable, districts 

16 shall be geographically compact. 

17 (2) FACTORS PROHIBITED FROM CONSIDER18 ATION.—In developing the redistricting plan for the 

19 State, the independent redistricting commission may 

20 not take into consideration any of the following fac21 tors, except to the extent necessary to comply with 

22 the Voting Rights Act of 1965: 

23 (A) The voting history of the population of 

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1 ation to the extent necessary to comply with 

2 any State law which requires the establishment 

3 of competitive Congressional districts. 

4 (B) The political party affiliation of the 

5 population of a district. 

6 (C) The residence of incumbent Members 

7 of the House of Representatives in the State. 

8 (3) PUBLIC NOTICE AND INPUT.— 

9 (A) PUBLIC HEARINGS; SOLICITATION OF

10 INPUT FROM PUBLIC.—The commission shall 

11 hold each of its meetings in public, and shall so12 licit and take into consideration comments from 

13 the public in developing the redistricting plan 

14 for the State. The commission shall notify the 

15 public through the publication of notice in 

16 newspapers of general circulation throughout 

17 the State, and through a public Internet site of 

18 the State government, of the time and place of 

19 its meetings, of its solicitation of public com20 ments, and of the means by which the public 

21 should submit comments to the commission. 

22 (B) NOTICE OF PLANS.—At the time the 

23 commission submits a redistricting plan to the 

24 legislature of the State under subsection (b)(1), 

25 the commission shall notify the public through 


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1 the publication of notice in newspapers of gen2 eral circulation throughout the State, and shall 

3 publish a detailed version of the plan (including 

4 a map showing each Congressional district es5 tablished under the plan and the voting age 

6 population by race of each such district) on a 

7 public Internet site of the State government. 

8 The commission shall provide such public notice 

9 of any redistricting plan it develops for a min10 imum of four weeks prior to submission of that 

11 plan to the legislature as provided for in sub12 section (b). 

13 (b) SUBMISSION OF PLANS TO LEGISLATURE.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—At any time prior to the 

15 first November 1 which occurs after the chief execu16 tive of the State receives the State apportionment 

17 notice, the commission may submit redistricting 

18 plans developed by the commission under this sec19 tion to the legislature of the State. 

20 (2) CONSIDERATION OF PLAN BY LEGISLA21 TURE.—After receiving any redistricting plan under 

22 paragraph (1), the legislature of a State may— 

23 (A) approve the plan as submitted by the 

24 commission without amendment and forward 

25 the plan to the chief executive of the State; or 


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1 (B) reject the plan. 

2 (3) ENACTMENT OF PLAN.— 

3 (A) IN GENERAL.—A redistricting plan de4 veloped by the commission shall be considered 

5 to be enacted into law only if the plan is for6 warded to the chief executive of the State pur7 suant to paragraph (2)(A) and— 

8 (i) the chief executive approves the 

9 plan as forwarded by the legislature with10 out amendment; or 

11 (ii) the chief executive vetoes the plan 

12 and the legislature overrides the veto in ac13 cordance with the applicable law of the 

14 State, except that at no time may the plan 

15 be amended. 

16 (B) SPECIAL RULE.—In the case of a 

17 State in which the chief executive is prohibited 

18 under State law from acting on a redistricting 

19 plan, a redistricting plan developed by the com20 mission shall be considered to be enacted into 

21 law if— 

22 (i) the plan is submitted to the legisla23 ture of the State; and 


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1 (ii) the legislature approves the plan 

2 as submitted by the commission without 

3 amendment. 

4 SEC. 6. SELECTION OF PLAN BY COURTS. 

5 (a) STATE COURT.— 

6 (1) SUBMISSION AND SELECTION OF PLAN.—If 

7 a redistricting plan developed by the independent re8 districting commission of a State is not enacted into 

9 law under section 5(b)(3) by the first November 1 

10 which occurs after the chief executive of the State 

11 receives the State apportionment notice, the commis12 sion may submit redistricting plans developed by the 

13 commission in accordance with section 5 to the high14 est court of the State, which may select and publish 

15 one of the submitted plans to serve as the redis16 tricting plan for the State. 

17 (2) NO MODIFICATION OF PLAN PERMITTED.— 

18 The highest court of a State may not modify any re19 districting plan submitted under this subsection. 

20 (b) FEDERAL COURT.— 

21 (1) FAILURE OF STATE COURT TO SELECT

22 PLAN.— 

23 (A) NOTICE TO COURT IF PLAN NOT SE24 LECTED BY STATE COURT.—If a State court to 

25 whom redistricting plans have been submitted 


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1 under subsection (a) does not select a plan to 

2 serve as the redistricting plan for the State 

3 under such subsection on or before the first De4 cember 1 which occurs after the chief executive 

5 of the State receives the State apportionment 

6 notice, the State shall file a notice with the 

7 United States district court for the district in 

8 which the capital of the State is located. 

9 (B) DEVELOPMENT AND SELECTION OF

10 PLAN BY FEDERAL COURT.—Not later than 30 

11 days after receiving a notice from a State under 

12 subparagraph (A), the court shall develop and 

13 publish a final redistricting plan for the State. 

14 (2) FAILURE OF STATE TO ESTABLISH COMMIS15 SION.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—If a State does not es17 tablish an independent redistricting commission 

18 under section 4 by the first September 1 which 

19 occurs after the chief executive of the State re20 ceives the State apportionment notice— 

21 (i) the State may not establish the 

22 commission; and 

23 (ii) the United States district court 

24 for the district in which the capital of the 

25 State is located shall develop and publish 


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1 a final redistricting plan for the State not 

2 later than the first December 1 which oc3 curs after the chief executive of the State 

4 receives the State apportionment notice. 

5 (B) DETERMINATION OF FAILURE TO ES6 TABLISH COMMISSION.—For purposes of sub7 paragraph (A), a State shall be considered to 

8 have failed to establish an independent redis9 tricting commission by the date referred to in 

10 such subparagraph if a chair of the commission 

11 has not been appointed on or before such date. 

12 (3) CRITERIA.—It is the sense of Congress 

13 that, in developing a redistricting plan for a State 

14 under this subsection, the district court should ad15 here to the same terms and conditions that applied 

16 to the development of the plan of the commission 

17 under section 5(a). 

18 (c) ACCESS TO INFORMATION AND RECORDS OF

19 COMMISSION.—A court which is required to select, pub20 lish, or develop a redistricting plan for a State under this 

21 section shall have access to any information, data, soft22 ware, or other records and material used by the inde23 pendent redistricting commission of the State in carrying 

24 out its duties under this Act. 


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1 SEC. 7. SPECIAL RULE FOR REDISTRICTING CONDUCTED 

2 UNDER ORDER OF FEDERAL COURT. 

3 If a Federal court requires a State to conduct redis4 tricting subsequent to an apportionment of Representa5 tives in the State in order to comply with the Constitution 

6 or to enforce the Voting Rights Act of 1965, sections 5 

7 and 6 shall apply with respect to the redistricting, except 

8 that— 

9 (1) the deadline for the establishment of the 

10 independent redistricting commission and the ap11 pointment of the commission’s chair (as described in 

12 section 4(d)(1)) shall be the expiration of the 30-day 

13 period which begins on the date of the final order of 

14 the Federal court to conduct the redistricting; 

15 (2) the deadline for the submission of redis16 tricting plans to the legislature by the commission, 

17 and the date of the termination of the commission 

18 (as described in section 4(f)) shall be the expiration 

19 of the 150-day period which begins on the date of 

20 the final order of the Federal court to conduct the 

21 redistricting; 

22 (3) the deadline for the selection and publica23 tion of the plan by the highest court of the State (as 

24 described in section 6(a)) shall be the expiration of 

25 the 180-day period which begins on the date of the 


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1 final order of the Federal court to conduct the redis2 tricting; and 

3 (4) the deadline for the selection and publica4 tion of the plan by the district court of the United 

5 States (as described in section 6(b)) shall be the ex6 piration of the 210-day period which begins on the 

7 date of the final order of the Federal court to con8 duct the redistricting. 

9 SEC. 8. PAYMENTS TO STATES FOR CARRYING OUT REDIS10 TRICTING. 

11 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF PAYMENTS.—Subject to sub12 section (d), not later than 30 days after a State receives 

13 a State apportionment notice, the Election Assistance 

14 Commission shall make a payment to the State in an 

15 amount equal to the product of— 

16 (1) the number of Representatives to which the 

17 State is entitled, as provided under the notice; and 

18 (2) $150,000. 

19 (b) USE OF FUNDS.—A State shall use the payment 

20 made under this section to establish and operate the 

21 State’s independent redistricting commission, to imple22 ment the State redistricting plan, and to otherwise carry 

23 out Congressional redistricting in the State. 

24 (c) NO PAYMENT TO STATES WITH SINGLE MEM25 BER.—The Election Assistance Commission shall not 


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1 make a payment under this section to any State which 

2 is not entitled to more than one Representative under its 

3 State apportionment notice. 

4 (d) REQUIRING ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION AS

5 CONDITION OF PAYMENT.—The Election Assistance Com6 mission may not make a payment to a State under this 

7 section until the State certifies to the Commission that 

8 the State has established an independent redistricting 

9 commission, and that a chair of the commission has been 

10 appointed, in accordance with section 4. 

11 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

12 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 

13 necessary for payments under this section. 

14 SEC. 9. STATE APPORTIONMENT NOTICE DEFINED. 

15 In this Act, the ‘‘State apportionment notice’’ means, 

16 with respect to a State, the notice sent to the State from 

17 the Clerk of the House of Representatives under section 

18 22(b) of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to provide for the fif19 teenth and subsequent decennial censuses and to provide 

20 for an apportionment of Representatives in Congress’’, ap21 proved June 18, 1929 (2 U.S.C. 2a), of the number of 

22 Representatives to which the State is entitled. 


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1 SEC. 10. CIVIL ENFORCEMENT AND PRIVATE RIGHT OF AC2 TION. 

3 (a) ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The Attorney General 

4 may bring a civil action in an appropriate district court 

5 for such declaratory or injunctive relief as is necessary to 

6 carry out this Act. 

7 (b) AVAILABILITY OF PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.— 

8 (1) ACTION CHALLENGING CONTENTS OF STATE

9 REDISTRICTING PLAN.—A person who is aggrieved 

10 by a violation of this Act which consists of the fail11 ure of a State redistricting plan enacted into law 

12 under section 5(b)(3) to be in compliance with para13 graph (1) or paragraph (2) of section 5(a) may 

14 bring a civil action in an appropriate district court 

15 for declaratory or injunctive relief. 

16 (2) OTHER ACTIONS.—A person who is ag17 grieved by a violation of this Act which is not de18 scribed in paragraph (1) may bring a civil action in 

19 an appropriate district court for declaratory or in20 junctive relief with respect to the violation if— 

21 (A) the person provides written notice of 

22 the violation to the chair of the independent re23 districting commission of the State involved; 

24 (B) the violation is not corrected during 

25 the 90-day period which begins on the date of 

26 the receipt of the written notice; and 


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1 (C) the person brings the action not later 

2 than 30 days after the expiration of the 90-day 

3 period referred to in clause (ii). 

4 (3) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.—No civil action 

5 may be brought under this subsection with respect 

6 to a State after the expiration of the 30-day period 

7 which begins on the date the State redistricting plan 

8 is enacted into law under section 5(b)(3). 

9 (c) EXPEDITED JUDICIAL REVIEW.—In any action 

10 brought for declaratory or injunctive relief under this sec11 tion, the following rules shall apply: 

12 (1) The action shall be filed in the appropriate 

13 United States district court and shall be heard by a 

14 3-judge court convened pursuant to section 2284 of 

15 title 28, United States Code. 

16 (2) The 3-judge court shall consolidate actions 

17 brought for relief under subsection (b)(1) with re18 spect to the same State redistricting plan. 

19 (3) A copy of the complaint shall be delivered 

20 promptly to the Clerk of the House of Representa21 tives and the Secretary of the Senate. 

22 (4) A final decision in the action shall be re23 viewable only by appeal directly to the Supreme 

24 Court of the United States. Such appeal shall be 

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


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1 days, and the filing of a jurisdictional statement 

2 within 30 days, of the entry of the final decision. 

3 (5) It shall be the duty of the district court and 

4 the Supreme Court of the United States to advance 

5 on the docket and to expedite to the greatest pos6 sible extent the disposition of the action and appeal. 

7 (d) LOCATION OF COURT.—For purposes of an action 

8 under this section, the appropriate district court shall be 

9 the district court of the United States for the district 

10 which includes the capital of the State involved. 

11 (e) ATTORNEY’S FEES.—In a civil action under this 

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

13 than the United States) reasonable attorney fees, includ14 ing litigation expenses, and costs. 

15 (f) RELATION TO OTHER LAWS.—(1) The rights and 

16 remedies established by this section are in addition to all 

17 other rights and remedies provided by law, and neither 

18 the rights and remedies established by this section nor any 

19 other provision of this Act shall supersede, restrict, or 

20 limit the application of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 

21 U.S.C. 1973 et seq.). 

22 (2) Nothing in this Act authorizes or requires con23 duct that is prohibited by the Voting Rights Act of 1965 

24 (42 U.S.C. 1973 et seq.). 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with BILLS
26 

•HR 2248 IH

1 SEC. 11. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

2 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 

3 become effective upon the date of enactment. 

Æ 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with BILLS