The 2021 redistricting cycle is underway. As with each new cycle, there’s new uncertainty: how the timing of Census data delivery will affect districting deadlines (including litigation about those deadlines); questions about who may serve as a commissioner to draw the lines; and even a controversy over a presidential memorandum on the apportionment count, later rescinded by a new administration, with several lawsuits filed in the meantime.

In the 2011 cycle, courts struck all or part of congressional plans in five states, and drew the lines themselves in twelve states.  And courts struck all or part of state legislative plans in thirteen states, and drew the lines themselves in eight states.  Now, in 2021, some states have different institutions in charge of the redistricting process, and in others, a set of actors with a different partisan mix is in control.  The courts will likely still be busy.