Redistricting Standards Act of 1983

Summary

Redistricting Standards Act of 1983 - Amends Federal law to establish guidelines for drawing the boundaries of congressional districts within three years after a decennial census. Requires such boundaries to be drawn: (1) with due regard to significant natural geographic barriers so as to contain only continguous territory; (2) to coincide with boundaries of local political subdivisions; and (3) to be compact in form. Prohibits States from drawing boundaries for the purpose of: (1) favoring specific political parties or individuals; and (2) denying effective voting representation to any language minority group or any racial minority group. Authorizes State legislatures to formulate criteria implementing such boundaries. Authorizes any qualified voter in a particular congressional district to bring an action in district court to enforce State compliance with such boundaries. Authorizes such courts to issue orders: (1) enforcing State compliance; and (2) establishing single member districts. Prohibits the court from invalidating certain State-drawn district boundaries unless it finds that substantial compliance with statutory standards has not been achieved. Directs the court to alter State-drawn district boundaries only to the extent needed to achieve statutory compliance. Provides guidelines for the court to alter State-drawn district boundaries if a State has not established single-member districts on the basis of the most recent decennial census. Confers exclusive jurisdiction upon the district courts to determine actions regarding State compliance with the redistricting standards under this Act. Requires such cases and their respective appeals to be expedited by the courts.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

No timeline events have been ingested for this record yet.

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

No version snapshots stored. Document URLs remain at the source.

Documents

1 official file

• Introduced in House

  summary · EN · 29 June 1983

  Open at official source

Sponsors

No sponsors or actors listed by the source.

Related records

No cross-record relationships stored yet.