William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review
Abstract
This Note argues that judicial and legislative efforts to constrain redistricting should incorporate legal stopgaps to allow for mid-decade redistricting in the wake of disasters that result in significant population displacement. Part I reviews how climate change is exacerbating natural and manmade disasters and the potential for these disasters to cause population displacement, particularly in the context of urbanization. Part II provides an overview of the typical redistricting process and requirements for electoral districts. It also details the debate over mid-decade redistricting, including efforts to prevent it. Part III proposes preconditions for “emergency redistricting” that judges and legislators should consider when regulating mid-decade redistricting. It then discusses how population displacement owing to disasters may drive districts out of compliance with established redistricting criteria, and concludes by noting how unrepresentative districts may complicate recovery efforts and implicate political, social, and democratic norms in the electoral process.
Emergency redistricting will not prevent the worst effects of climate change or resolve tension over mid-decade redistricting, but as both problems unfold, lawmakers should not eliminate their only tool for ensuring districts accurately reflect communities disrupted by environmental tragedy.
This abstract has been taken from the author's introduction.