Redistricting in Arizona
[3] The Constitution, Supreme Court jurisprudence and federal law allow significant latitude to the individual states to draw their congressional and legislative districts as they see fit, as long as each district contains roughly equivalent numbers of people (see Baker v. Carr, Wesberry v. Sanders, and Reynolds v. Sims) and provides for minority representation pursuant to the Voting Rights Act.
[5] Since 2021 will be the first year Arizona is not required to "pre-clear" proposed maps with the US Department of Justice, groups previously protected under Section 5 due to past discrimination (Hispanics, and Native Americans) have concerns about how this will affect their representation.
Proposition 106 amended the Arizona Constitution to create a bipartisan commission independent of the state legislature that would be tasked with redrawing congressional and legislative lines following the decennial census.
"[11] While most of Arizona's House delegation opposed Proposition 106, a number of important officials, including then-Arizona Attorney General and future Governor and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, supported it.
[11] Once the four partisan commissioners are set, they then select an independent chair from the list of candidates compiled by the Commission on Appellate Court Appointments.
[12] The Arizona Supreme Court, however, unanimously ruled Mathis's removal unconstitutional on November 17 and ordered her reinstatement as AIRC chairwoman.
The Arizona Legislature filed suit in federal court, seeking to take back the power to draw congressional district lines.
[18] The Court held the term "legislature" in the Elections Clause could be read broadly to mean "the power that makes laws," not just the two representative houses.
[20] For most of Arizona's history – that is, the period between statehood in 1912 and the passage of Proposition 106 in 2000 – the legislature controlled the drawing of congressional and legislative districts.
Arizona's rapid growth since the 1960s was previously the result of sustained internal migration from the Northeast and Midwest and more recently from the Western United States to the Sun Belt, as well as steady immigration.
This represented the second highest population growth rate in the country after Nevada and far outpaced the national average, resulting in Arizona gaining a ninth congressional seat through reapportionment.
[28] Maricopa County would continue to dominate the state's politics under the new map: eight of Arizona's nine congressional districts extend into its more than 3.8 million-person territory.
[29] In an unprecedented vote on November 1, 2011, the Arizona Senate approved Governor Jan Brewer's removal of the AIRC's independent chairwoman, Colleen Mathis, under allegations of gross misconduct.
[30] On November 17, the Arizona Supreme Court summarily and unanimously overturned Governor Brewer's removal of Mathis, ordering her reinstatement as commission chair.
"[32][33] The Star opined, "It appears that Mathis' real misdeed is putting out for public comment a map that the governor and fellow Republicans think is wrong.
"[33] On November 17, the Supreme Court ruled against the Brewer administration, finding that "the governor did not demonstrate substantial grounds for removing Mathis from the head of the redistricting panel."
In an attempt to ensure that the process was fair and transparent, the commission held 58 business meetings and 43 public hearings in locations all over the state, for a total of over 359 hours in an 11-month period.
