On April 25, 2022, the ACLU-NH filed a friend-of-the-court brief in Norelli v. Secretary of State, a lawsuit brought by a number of voters alleging that the political branches are at an impasse on redrawing the Congressional districts, but that population shifts have rendered the current districts unconstitutional on the principle of one person/one vote.
Our brief highlights that the legislature and Governor have been unable to agree on a congressional plan. Our analysis (linked here) shows that the plan proposed by the legislature would draw two “safe” districts—one for Democrats and one for Republicans, which is a change from the two highly competitive districts we have now. Our brief explains our view that population changes make the current districts untenable, and we ask the Court to apply the “least change” approach, by starting with the currently enacted districts and move the fewest number of people from District 1 to District 2 to make the plan constitutional.
On May 12, 2022, after oral argument on May 4, 2022, the New Hampshire Supreme issued a decision agreeing that current 2010 congressional maps cannot be used after the 2020 census for upcoming congressional elections, and concluded that the "least change" approach should apply in the event of an impasse. The Court’s opinion ensures that the people of New Hampshire will have congressional districts with equal populations as the Constitution requires.