Case Study of Gerrymandering in Light of the US Constitutional Review and its Benefit for Iran’s Legal System

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Professor of Department of Public and International Law, Faculty of Law, Imam Sadiq University, Tehran. Iran

2 Ph.D. Student in Public Law, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran. Iran

Abstract

The Gerrymandering phenomenon can be considered as one of the most obvious examples of violations of the political rights of a nation and jeopardizing free and fair elections as the most important manifestation of democracy in a country. In this illegal act a political faction weakens the vote effects of some people and reinforces some others through leveraging and redistricting the borders of election regions to reach its political aims. Analyzing the history of nineteenth-century US political developments illustrates the significant negative impact of this violation of lawmakers on the fundamental rights of the American people, especially in the conduct of free and democratic elections. It can be claimed that party-motivated gerrymandering during the nineteenth century systematically influenced the shaping of congressional election campaigns and, by making visible changes in the composition of state delegations, has determined the fate of the majority and decision-making party in the US House of Representatives. The founders of the United States drafted one of the first constitutions for the United States in 1787, and because this law has clear rules, judges go directly to it and give its ruling. Given that the principle of separation of powers is one of the fundamental pillars of the constitution, the judiciary, which is represented by the United States Supreme Court, has complete independence and other powers cannot interfere with its decisions or refuse to enforce its decisions. Based on this fact, the Supreme court of the United States has specifically addressed this issue in the context of the implementation of constitutional review, as its basic duty, and has made the legislation which caused artificial redistricting and violated the principle of equality of citizens in different states abolished and considered them against the constitution. In this analytical descriptive study which has based on documentary data the authors discuss this question that “How does US constitutional review deal with gerrymandering and what is the achievement of this study for reforming Iran’s electoral system?” As an objective analysis we will study a recently discussed US Supreme court case (Cooper V. Harris) and use the results for reforming the redistricting system of Iran. As a result of this comparative study and after reviewing Iranian laws and regulations regarding electoral districts, it is observed that the mechanism for determining the district borders in Iran and the US is affected by policy and factional inclinations, and as a suggestion, the crucial task of electoral districting in the country can be entrusted to an independent commission to replace the previous pattern with a clear and expert process. It should be borne in mind that the Federal Supreme Court frequently used general terms of the US Constitution to consolidate the foundations of democracy and free and fair elections by using the interpretation of the law, and the Guardian Council in Iran In this way, can also play an active role in preventing the influence of party and factional inclinations on future districting. Utilizing the criteria used by the US Supreme Court to counter this abuse, including the prohibition of racial discrimination and the principle of equality of citizens with regard to the plurality and diversity of ethnic and minority groups in Iran, would be fruitful in possible amendments to the laws.

Keywords

References

  1.  الف) فارسی

    -         کتاب‌ها

    1. داوید، رنه و اسپیونزی، کامی ژوفر (1395)، درآمدی بر حقوق تطبیقی و دو نظام حقوقی معاصر، مترجم: سید حسن صفایی، چ 11، تهران: بنیاد حقوقی میزان.
    2. شیروی، عبدالحسین (1394)، حقوق تطبیقی، چ 14، تهران: سازمان مطالعه و تدوین کتب علوم انسانی دانشگاهها (سمت).
    3. غمامی، سید محمدمهدی (1396)، حقوق عمومی تطبیقی لبنان، چ 1، تهران: انتشارات دانشگاه امام صادق (ع).
    4. قاضی شریعت پناهی، سید ابولفضل (1395)، حقوق اساسی و نهاد های سیاسی، چ 14، تهران: بنیاد حقوقی میزان.
    5. هاشمی، سید محمد (1385)، حقوق اساسی جمهوری اسلامی ایران، ج 2، چ 12، تهران: نشر میزان.

    -         مقالات

    1. حمدی پور،زهرا؛ حافظ‌نیا، محمدرضا؛ خوجم لی، عبدالوهاب (1390)، «تحلیل حوزه‌های انتخاباتی استان گلستان بعد از انقلاب اسلامی»، فصلنامۀ ژئوپلوتیک، سال هفتم، ش 1.
    2. امجد، محمد (1383)، «بررسی ساختار دیوان عالی ایالات متحده»، دانشنامۀ حقوق و سیاست، ش 2.
    3. پروین، خیرالله (1394)، «جستاری بر اندیشۀ دادرسی اساسی در جهان»، مطالعات حقوق تطبیقی، دورۀ 6، ش 1.
    4. حبیب‌زاده، توکل (1393)، «نظارت قضایی و رویکرد‌های دیوان عالی فدرال آمریکا در تفسیر قانون اساسی در پرتو تحولات سیاسی و اجتماعی»، دانش حقوق عمومی، سال سوم، ش 10.
    5. رفیعی قهساره، ابوذر (1390)، «معیارهای تعیین محدودۀ حوزه‌های انتخابیه در کشورهای مختلف»، دفتر مطالعات سیاسی مرکز پژوهش‌های مجلس شورای اسلامی، ش مسلسل 12001.
    6. میرشکاری، عباس (1390)، «مطالعه دیوان عالی کشور در نظام قضایی امریکا»، ماهنامۀ قضاوت، ش 70.
    7. واعظی، سید مجتبی (1390)، «مطالعۀ تطبیقی مبانی و کارکرد الگوهای دادگستری اساسی»، پژوهش‌های حقوق تطبیقی، ش 2.
    8. هامون، فرانسیس و وانیر، سلین (1383)، «صیانت از قانون اساسی در فرانسه وایالات متحدۀ آمریکا»، مترجم: محمد جلالی، نشریۀ حقوق اساسی، سال دوم، ش 2.

    -         قوانین

    1. قانون اساسی جمهوری اسلامی ایران، بازنگری 1368.
    2. قانون اساسی فرانسه، مصوب 1958.
    3. قانون اساسی لبنان، مصوب 1926.
    4. قانون اساسی جمهوری عربی مصر، مصوب 2012.
    5. «قانون تعاریف و ضوابط تقسیمات کشوری» مصوب مجلس شورای اسلامی، 1362.
    6. «قانون تعیین محدودۀ حوزه‌های انتخاباتی مجلس شورای اسلامی» مصوب مجلس شورای اسلامی، 1366.

     

    ب) انگلیسی

    - Books

    20      Engstrom, Erik (2005), Partisan Gerrymandering and the Construction of American Democracy, University of Michigan Press.

    21      Fallon R.  H. (2004), the dynamic constitution: an introduction to American constitutional law, Cambridge university press.

    22      Grofman, Bernard (2003), Political Gerrymandering and the Courts, Agora Publishing.

    23      Hazard, Gerald C., Jr., and Michele Taruffo, (1993), American Civil Procedure: An Introduction, Yale University Press.

    24      Mackenzie, J. (2010), Gerrymandering and Legislator Efficiency.–[Електронний ресурс].–Режим доступу: http://www. Udel. Edu/johnmack/research/gerrymandering. Pdf

    25      Mavcic Andre (2001), The Constitutional Review, Postojna Press

    26      McGann, Anthony J. Charles Anthony Smith, Michael Latner, Alex Keena (2010), Gerrymandering, the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Revolution, Cambridge University Press

    27      Rossiter, DJ; Johnston, RJ; Pattie, CJ. (1999), The Boundary Commissions: Redrawing the UK's Map of Parliamentary Constituencies. Manchester University Press.

    -          Documents:

    28      Cooper, Governor of North Carolina, et Al. v. Harris et Al. Supreme Court of the United States , No. 15–1262. Argued December 5, 2016—Decided May 22, 2017.

    29      Cooper v. Harris. (n.d.). Oyez. Retrieved March 15, 2018, from https://www.oyez.org/cases/2016/15-1262.

    30      Davis, et al. v. Bandemer, et al Supreme Court of the United States. Argued: October 7, 1985. Decided: June 30, 1986 No 478 US.

    31      Easley v. Cromartie, 532 U.S. 234, Supreme Court of the United States, Argued November 27, 2000, Decided April 18, 2001.   

    32      Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. Supreme Court of the United States, Argued February 11, 1803, Decided February 24, 1803.

    33      Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, Supreme Court of the United States, Argued November 13, 1963, Decided June 15, 1964.

    34      .Skelton, Chris (2017), Annotation on Cooper v. Harris, U.S., Justia, available at: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/581/15-1262/opinion3.html. 30/05/2018

    35      United States Constitution, September 17, 1787, available at: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CDOC-110hdoc50/pdf/CDOC-110hdoc50.pdf.  25/05/2018

    -          Acts

    36      Act of judiciary, (1789) US congress.

    37      Voting Rights Act (VRA), (1965) US congress.

Comparative Law Review
Volume 11, Issue 1
Spring & Summer
April 2020
Pages 225-244

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics