Rucho v. Common Cause, 588 U.S. ___, 139 S. Ct. 2484 (2019) (U.S. Supreme Court)
Rucho v. Common Cause is a landmark decision at the intersection of constitutional law, election law, and federal courts.
Do claims of partisan gerrymandering present justiciable controversies under the Constitution that federal courts can resolve, or are they nonjusticiable political questions lacking judicially discoverable and manageable standards?
Partisan gerrymandering claims are nonjusticiable political questions in federal court. The Constitution assigns redistricting principally to the States, with oversight by Congress under the Elections Clause (U.S. Const. art. I, § 4), and provides no judicially discoverable and manageable standard for determining when partisan influence in districting is excessive. Absent such a standard rooted in constitutional text, history, or tradition, federal courts lack authority under Article III to adjudicate these claims. See Baker v. Carr (political question factors), Vieth v. Jubelirer (plurality finding no manageable standard), and Gill v. Whitford (not reaching merits).
No. Partisan gerrymandering claims are not justiciable in federal court. The Supreme Court reversed the lower courts and remanded with instructions to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction because such claims present political questions beyond the competence of the federal judiciary.
Rucho definitively closes the federal courthouse to partisan gerrymandering claims, cementing the political question doctrine's application to structural election disputes involving partisan advantage. It channels litigation and reform to state courts (under state constitutions, which often include free and fair elections clauses) and to institutional redesign (independent redistricting commissions) and preserves federal judicial review for other redistricting claims—such as one-person-one-vote, racial gerrymandering under the Equal Protection Clause, and Voting Rights Act claims. For law students, the case illustrates limits on judicial power, the importance of manageable standards, and federalism-based avenues for addressing democratic dysfunction.