Wisconsin redistricting panel’s maps could pit dozens of incumbents against each other

This blog post continues the focus of the Law School’s Lubar Center on redistricting.

Nearly half of Wisconsin Assembly members and more than one-third of state senators — including the top Republican leaders in both chambers — would have to run against fellow incumbents if they seek re-election from the districts where they now live, under new maps proposed by an advisory commission.

The People’s Maps Commission plan also would place four of the state’s eight U.S. House members in the same districts as their colleagues, according to an analysis by John D. Johnson, research fellow in the Lubar Center for Public Policy Research and Civic Education at Marquette Law School.

By contrast, maps proposed by the Legislature’s GOP leadership and by the conservative organization Common Sense Wisconsin would group far fewer incumbents together, Johnson’s analysis shows.

Continue ReadingWisconsin redistricting panel’s maps could pit dozens of incumbents against each other

Risk and Liability for November Music Festival Disaster in Houston

Man standing at a concertNo, this picture is not a still from an episode of “Black Mirror;” it is a photograph from the Jacques Berman Webster II (also known as Travis Scott) concert on November 5, 2021, in Houston. The fans (including the man standing on the ambulance) are unaware that their exuberant pushing and shoving are creating a crowd crush. In other words, the venue has become so densely populated that the crowd begins to function like a liquid. Therefore, pushing from the back has a ripple effect that causes fans near the front (1) to experience compressional asphyxia due to the pressure on the lungs or (2) to fall and be trampled.

Unfortunately, this tragedy resulted in the death of eight people and physically injury to over 300. The number of victims may continue to grow as people are treated for the mental trauma they experienced.

This is certainly not the first time these “crowd crush” events have occurred, and this is not the first time that Mr. Webster has been involved in fueling these sorts of situations. Mr. Webster was arrested for disorderly conduct in 2015 at Lollapalooza in Chicago and again in 2017 at a concert in Arkansas. At both performances, Mr. Webster created hysteria by getting the crowd to “rage,” which resulted in injury and chaos. What is alarming is that Mr. Webster did not immediately stop the show in Houston (the victims can be heard on audio screaming for help). Furthermore, the venue seemed woefully unprepared to handle the event, despite Mr. Webster’s well-known reputation, the promotor’s history of these risks, and the advancements in crowd control. Additionally, the Houston police chief allegedly visited the performer ahead of his show to “convey[] concerns about the energy in the crowd.”

It is no surprise that over 14 civil lawsuits have already been filed against the promoter, Live Nation Entertainment Inc., 10 of which also named Mr. Webster. The lawsuits allege “that Live Nation acted negligently by failing to create and enforce proper safety protocols, failing to provide adequate security and failing to maintain proper crowd control.”

Live Nation will most likely point to their 56-page operation plan submitted to Harris County ahead of the festival as one possible defense. That plan covered security and medical response protocols, including “the potential for multiple alcohol/drug-related incidents, possible evacuation needs, and the ever-present threat of a mass casualty situation.” However, despite the plan’s existence, it is clear that either it was not sufficient for this situation or the Live Nation staff did not appropriately follow it.

The event is still under police investigation, so we will not have all of the information until later. Until then, I hope that other promotors and performers learn from this and take better care of their consumers.

Do you think either the promotor or Mr. Webster could be held criminally responsible for this event?

 

Continue ReadingRisk and Liability for November Music Festival Disaster in Houston

Stability or “gerrylaundering”? Attorneys clash over using current maps as redistricting baseline

This blog post continues the focus of the Law School’s Lubar Center on redistricting.

In redrawing Wisconsin’s legislative and congressional district lines, politicians and judges face a question that often confronts authors and filmmakers: Whether to produce a sequel or create an entirely new work.

After panning the Republican-drawn 2011 maps as one of the nation’s most extreme partisan gerrymanders, Democrats and progressives find the idea of a sequel as horrifying as another installment of a Halloween slasher-movie franchise. They say it’s time for fresh new districts.

Republicans and conservatives, meanwhile, find comfort in continuing a familiar story — and, not so coincidentally, bringing back almost all of the same characters from previous episodes. They say stability is a virtue in redistricting.

Both sides argue their cases in briefs filed with the Wisconsin Supreme Court, after a legislative debate over a non-binding joint resolution laying out the GOP majority’s favored redistricting principles. The current phase of litigation seeks to define how the justices would redraw the maps if lawmakers can’t reach agreement with Democratic Gov. Tony Evers (and if the task doesn’t wind up in the hands of a three-judge federal court).

Robert Yablon has coined a term for the approach that Wisconsin Republicans advocate: “Gerrylaundering.” That’s also the title of a forthcoming paper for the New York University Law Review, in which Yablon, a University of Wisconsin Law School associate professor, describes how lawmakers try to lock in a prior gerrymander by perfunctorily cleaning up the old maps before clothing the state in them for another decade.

Continue ReadingStability or “gerrylaundering”? Attorneys clash over using current maps as redistricting baseline