Case Summary

On June 4, 2020, the California Legislature filed an emergency petition with the California Supreme Court seeking to extend the California Citizens’ Redistricting Commission’s deadlines for producing new redistricting plans in light of the delayed release of 2020 Decennial Census data due to the coronavirus pandemic.

• On July 17, 2020, the California Supreme Court granted the petition and issued the following modified timeline: preliminary maps due by 11/1/2021 and final plans due by 12/15/2021. The Court’s order also specified if census data was delivered after 7/31/21, these deadlines would be extended by the same amount of days it took for data to be received (“additional federal delay”).
• On August 20, 2021, the Commission filed an emergency motion with the Court seeking to clarify and modify the Court’s July 17, 2020, order and timeline. They asked that the additional federal delay be defined as ending on the day they reformatted census data into a usable format (8/18/21), that the deadline for final maps be extended to 1/14/22 to allow for more meaningful public input, and that the shortened public notice requirements for final plan hearings be permitted to apply in this lengthened timeline.
• On September 22, 2021, the Court granted the Commission’s emergency motion in part, allowing the shortened public notice requirements for final meetings to apply but declining to modify the Commission’s deadlines for preliminary and final redistricting plans.

Case Library

Supreme Court of California - S262530

• Opinion - 7/17/20
• Emergency Motion of California Citizens Redistricting Commission to Clarify and/or Modify Writ of Mandate - 8/20/21
• Amici Curiae Letter in Support of Emergency Motion to Clarify and/or Modify Writ of Mandate - 9/7/21