Leadership Now Project & Partners Join Common Cause in Filing Amicus Brief in Support of Michigan’s Independent Redistricting Commission

Washington, D.C. -- The Leadership Now Project joined an amicus brief filed by Common Cause on Monday in support of the independent redistricting commission in Michigan, alongside partners at IssueOne, Equal Citizens, RepresentUS, and the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress (CSPC). The brief was filed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit of Michigan in regard to the cases consolidated in Daunt v. Benson and Michigan Republican Party v. Benson. 

In 2018, Michigan voters approved Proposal 2 to create an independent citizen-led commission for redistricting in 2022. However, the proposal now faces a legal challenge on the basis of the restrictions for commissioner qualifications, which would in effect eliminate the possibility of an independent commission and overturn the will of Michigan voters. 

As a membership organization comprised of business and thought leaders, the Leadership Now Project is dedicated to renewing our democracy for the long-term. Business leaders today cite a dysfunctional political system as a significant obstacle to U.S. economic competitiveness, according to a recent report by Harvard Business School. Partisan gerrymandering is a major cause of this dysfunction, creating non-competitive districts that handicap economic policymaking. Scholars from multiple disciplines find that primary elections in gerrymandered districts force our elected officials into extreme positions that exacerbate polarization and deepen gridlock. Eliminating the practice of gerrymandering will go a long way to restoring naturally competitive districts that in turn support U.S. economic competitiveness.

Leadership Now hopes that its perspective will be useful to the Court to validate the independent commission in Michigan. The health of our economy depends on a healthy democracy. And that healthy democracy rests on fair representation.

Read the full brief here.