PROCESS PAPER
Immediately after I learned that this year’s theme was Conflict and Compromise, I knew I wanted to tie my NHD project to elections or government, which I have been interested in since I covered the 2016 Iowa Caucus as a Scholastic Kid Reporter. Gerrymandering was an issue I had seen in newspapers. I knew it had to do with elections and maps, but I didn’t understand exactly what it was or why it was important. I also wasn’t sure whether such a timely topic was historical enough. After talking to my history teacher I learned partisan gerrymandering is nearly as old as the United States. Because this topic was tied to an area of interest, had a clear historical angle and was complex enough that it would not be a common topic, I wanted to tackle it.
Tracking down primary sources about the history of gerrymandering was not easy. My initial Google search drowned me in the recent debates over gerrymandering. To get traction, my teachers helped me gain access to university libraries. There I found a key piece that helped me on my way: a legal case called Davis v. Bandemer (DVB). The two most fascinating parts of my research were discovering the case files of Justice Powell and a conversation with Palma Strand, Justice White’s clerk in DVB. I stumbled across Powell’s case files by happy accident. I was searching for commentary on DVB and found a typical cover page, followed by 366 pages of handwritten commentary and personal correspondences related to the case. I had landed in the case files Powell had donated to Washington and Lee University School of Law. The exchanges with his clerk and the Court, handwritten outlines of his positions, and numerous drafts he and other Justices had written gave me entirely new insight to the case and prompted me to search for Justice White’s files and clerk. Professor Strand provided an invaluable first hand account and helped me understand the relevance of DVB today in a way no book could. These two elements forever changed the way I research and opened a world of Supreme Court case files I never knew existed. The research was hard, but I loved it.
I chose a website to display my project. Gerrymandering is a complicated topic that is made much more understandable with images and multimedia. The gallery feature was perfect to display district shapes. Using Weebly was new to me so I reached out to NHD a couple times with questions but by the end felt like when I had an idea, I could make it happen on Weebly.
Partisan gerrymandering is a prime example of Conflict and Compromise in history. The conflict began over 200 years ago and continues today. In DVB, a compromise was articulated: partisan gerrymandering is justiciable, but only in extreme cases unconstitutional. Today, Gill v. Whitford looms large as the Supreme Court works to find a standard that can make real on that compromise.
Tracking down primary sources about the history of gerrymandering was not easy. My initial Google search drowned me in the recent debates over gerrymandering. To get traction, my teachers helped me gain access to university libraries. There I found a key piece that helped me on my way: a legal case called Davis v. Bandemer (DVB). The two most fascinating parts of my research were discovering the case files of Justice Powell and a conversation with Palma Strand, Justice White’s clerk in DVB. I stumbled across Powell’s case files by happy accident. I was searching for commentary on DVB and found a typical cover page, followed by 366 pages of handwritten commentary and personal correspondences related to the case. I had landed in the case files Powell had donated to Washington and Lee University School of Law. The exchanges with his clerk and the Court, handwritten outlines of his positions, and numerous drafts he and other Justices had written gave me entirely new insight to the case and prompted me to search for Justice White’s files and clerk. Professor Strand provided an invaluable first hand account and helped me understand the relevance of DVB today in a way no book could. These two elements forever changed the way I research and opened a world of Supreme Court case files I never knew existed. The research was hard, but I loved it.
I chose a website to display my project. Gerrymandering is a complicated topic that is made much more understandable with images and multimedia. The gallery feature was perfect to display district shapes. Using Weebly was new to me so I reached out to NHD a couple times with questions but by the end felt like when I had an idea, I could make it happen on Weebly.
Partisan gerrymandering is a prime example of Conflict and Compromise in history. The conflict began over 200 years ago and continues today. In DVB, a compromise was articulated: partisan gerrymandering is justiciable, but only in extreme cases unconstitutional. Today, Gill v. Whitford looms large as the Supreme Court works to find a standard that can make real on that compromise.