Redistricting, Legislative Effectiveness, and Racial Polarization After Shelby County v. Holder: A Practitioner’s Lens and Analysis
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Authors
El, Shantee
Issue Date
2025-10-31
Type
Dissertation
Language
en_US
Keywords
Political science , Law , Public policy , Equal Representation , Geographical Information System (GIS) , Legislative Effectiveness , Redistricting , Shelby v. Holder , Voting Righs Act (VRA) , Dissertations, Academic
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Abstract
This study investigated the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder (2013) on legislative effectiveness and racial polarization within congressional districts formerly covered under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). Focusing on the period between the 108th and the 118th Congress (2003–2022), this study analyzed trends in the Legislative Effectiveness Scores (LES) of majority-party members in the U.S. House of Representatives who represent states formerly covered under Section 5 of the VRA compared with their counterparts in non-covered states. The study also employed a descriptive analysis of the redistricting outcomes in eight of the nine fully covered Section 5 states, following the 2010 and 2020 censuses. The results reveal no relationship between the mean LES benchmark for members representing formerly covered Section 5 states compared with their non-covered counterparts. Furthermore, while some states experienced limited growth in majority-minority districts, the absence of a corresponding increase—or, in some cases, the decline—in majority-White “bleached” districts undermines the overall claim of rising racial polarization resulting in the expansion of both district types. Even though removing Section 5 preclearance has allowed for greater state-level autonomy in redistricting, this autonomy has had nuanced effects on racial and ethnic representation in states fully covered by the former Section 5 preclearance provision. Although some resilience is evident, persistent institutional and methodological limitations necessitate ongoing vigilance, policy reform, and further interdisciplinary research.
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This dissertation is protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States (Public Law 94-553, revised in 1976). Consistent with fair use as defined in the Copyright Laws, brief quotations from this material are allowed with proper acknowledgement. Use of the materials for financial gain with the author's expressed written permissions is not allowed.