Smith will discuss how, long ago, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized racially discriminatory gerrymandering as unconstitutional, but has never found a way to deal with partisan gerrymandering. Smith will talk about the acceleration of partisan gerrymandering after the Supreme Court’s 2004 decision in Vieth v. Jubelirer, as well as its causes, impact and legal history.
He will delve into the subject of partisan gerrymandering as a serious threat to democratic representation and discuss how the Supreme Court had the opportunity in the summer of 2017 to make a substantive decision on the issue and did not, but left the door open to doing so in the future. Smith will also discuss a Constitutional basis the court could use for evaluating and striking down partisan gerrymandering and will discuss the reasons it is important for the court to do so.
Smith is a professor of political science at the University of California, Irvine. He earned his Ph.D. in political science from the University of California-San Diego, his master’s degree in political science at Utah State University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He earned his law degree at the University of Florida.