The Consent of the Governed

The Consent of the Governed is a Kolbe Fellowship project investigating gerrymandering through the lens of mathematics, Supreme Court litigation, and the potential for redistricting reform. The project begins with an analysis of the impact of gerrymandering on the composition of the current U.S. House of Representatives. It then investigates the arguments and stories of Supreme Court gerrymandering cases in the past twenty years within their political contexts, with a focus on the Court's reaction to different mathematical methods to measure partisan gerrymandering. The project also looks at the potential for state-level redistricting reform, including through state supreme court litigation and citizen-led ballot initiatives. Professor Campbell Hetrick was the faculty advisor for this project.