2.3 - Congressional Behavior

Polarization and Gridlock

• Party-Line Voting: this polarization often shows up as party-line voting, where one party votes yes and the other votes no as a bloc.

• Policy Gridlock: polarization plus party-line voting slows everything down, making it hard to pass legislation or confirm nominees.

Divided vs. unified government

• Divided Government: each party controls at least one of the House, Senate, or Presidency. This fuels partisanship and makes confirmations and presidential programs harder to pass.
• This partisanship hits hardest when the president is a lame duck, meaning near the end of their final term (or already defeated for reelection). Members of Congress know they'll outlast the president, so they have less reason to go along with the president's initiatives and nominees. Example: in 2016, the Republican Senate refused to even hold hearings on President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland (more in 2.5).

• Unified Government: one party controls the presidency and both chambers of Congress.

Reapportionment and Redistricting

• Census: taken every ten years.

• Reapportionment: after the census, seats get reshuffled among states based on population changes. Growing states gain seats, shrinking or slower growing states lose them. The total stays fixed at 435.

• Redistricting: redrawing the actual district lines afterward. This job belongs to state legislatures.

Gerrymandering

1. Cracking: splitting up a voting bloc across multiple districts to weaken its influence in any one of them.

2. Packing: cramming as many of a certain group into as few districts as possible, making it easier for the majority party to win everywhere else.

Key Supreme Court cases and limits

• Baker v. Carr (1962): ruled that challenges to how states draw districts are justiciable, meaning they're not "political questions" courts have to stay out of. This opened the door for federal courts to hear claims that unequal districts violate the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.
• Facts: Tennessee hadn't redrawn its legislative districts since 1901, even though its own constitution required it every ten years. Cities grew while rural districts kept the same number of seats, so an urban vote counted far less than a rural one.
• Holding: 6-2, federal courts can decide redistricting cases under the Equal Protection Clause.
• What came next: later cases built the "one person, one vote" rule on top of Baker, requiring districts to be roughly equal in population: Wesberry v. Sanders (1964) for U.S. House districts and Reynolds v. Sims (1964) for state legislatures.

• Shaw v. Reno (1993): ruled that voters can challenge a majority-minority district under the Equal Protection Clause when race was the only factor used to draw it. In other words, districts can't be drawn based on race alone.
• Facts: to satisfy the Justice Department under the Voting Rights Act, North Carolina drew a second majority-Black district. It snaked about 160 miles along Interstate 85, for much of its length no wider than the highway corridor, and white voters sued.
• Holding: 5-4, a district drawn only on the basis of race faces strict scrutiny, the toughest standard of review, so the state has to show it is narrowly tailored to a compelling interest.
• Baker vs. Shaw: both use the Equal Protection Clause to police redistricting. Baker is about unequal population; Shaw is about using race as the only factor.

• History of racial gerrymandering: before the Voting Rights Act of 1965, it was used to dilute minority voting power. After the Act, it was sometimes used to increase minority representation instead.

• District requirements: must be contiguous (no gaps), can't dilute minority voting strength, and can't be based only on race.

• Majority-Minority District: a district where most residents are a racial minority. Allowed, as long as race isn't the sole basis for drawing it.

• Rucho v. Common Cause (2019): not a required case, but a useful comparison with Baker. The Court ruled 5-4 that partisan gerrymandering claims are political questions federal courts can't decide. That's why partisan gerrymandering stays legal under federal law, while unequal populations (Baker) and race-only districts (Shaw) can be challenged.

District competitiveness

• Safe Districts: not competitive, one party wins almost automatically. Roughly 70 to 90 percent of districts fall here, largely blamed on gerrymandering.

• Marginal Districts: genuinely competitive, either party has a real shot.

• Open Districts: no incumbent running, so it's a race between two newcomers.

Models of Congressional Representation

1. Trustee Model: vote based on your own best judgment, even if constituents disagree.

2. Delegate Model: vote the way your constituents want, even if you personally disagree, often driven by wanting to get reelected.

3. Politico Model: a blend of both. Act as a delegate on high-profile or close-to-election issues, but as a trustee otherwise.

Big picture