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2 <br />Redistrictingonline <br />Contact Law Video Library Basics Prot <br />Vfiat are Traditional <br />,Red U thrti ng Principles <br />• Standard redistricting principles can be a best practice or a an actual legal requirement. <br />All 50 states include at least one of these principles in their state constitution. <br />Go to Page 2 <br />Since the decennial practice of redistricting began after the "apportionment cases" of the <br />sixties, the process of redrawing district lines for that purpose has generated a set of <br />'traditional" principles or criteria. Each of the criteria below has been recognized by courts <br />(including the Supreme Court) as desirable or at least permissible to abide by when redrawing <br />district lines. <br />Compactness <br />Compactness is one of the most basic principles for drawing political districts. Indeed, it just <br />may be the oldest principle as evidenced by the uproar after the unveiling of Elbridge Gerry's <br />district in 1812.[1j Courts have recognized this principle in several cases expressly noting that <br />'compactness does have to be one of [redistrictings'] primary goals."[2] More recently, <br />compactness has played a central role in minority vote dilution claims and was a key issue in <br />the line of racial gerrymandering cases sparked by the Supreme Court's Shaw v. Reno <br />decision. <br />