26
RUCHO v. COMMON CAUSE
Opinion of the Court
est in voting.” 348 F. Supp. 3d, at 523–524.
To begin, there are no restrictions on speech, association, or any other First Amendment activities in the districting plans at issue. The plaintiffs are free to engage in
those activities no matter what the effect of a plan may be
on their district.
The plaintiffs’ argument is that partisanship in districting should be regarded as simple discrimination against
supporters of the opposing party on the basis of political
viewpoint. Under that theory, any level of partisanship in
districting would constitute an infringement of their First
Amendment rights. But as the Court has explained, “[i]t
would be idle . . . to contend that any political consideration taken into account in fashioning a reapportionment
plan is sufficient to invalidate it.” Gaffney, 412 U. S., at
752. The First Amendment test simply describes the act
of districting for partisan advantage. It provides no
standard for determining when partisan activity goes too
far.
As for actual burden, the slight anecdotal evidence
found sufficient by the District Courts in these cases
shows that this too is not a serious standard for separating
constitutional from unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering. The District Courts relied on testimony about
difficulty drumming up volunteers and enthusiasm. How
much of a decline in voter engagement is enough to constitute a First Amendment burden? How many door knocks
must go unanswered? How many petitions unsigned?
How many calls for volunteers unheeded? The Common
Cause District Court held that a partisan gerrymander
places an unconstitutional burden on speech if it has more
than a “de minimis” “chilling effect or adverse impact” on
any First Amendment activity. 318 F. Supp. 3d, at 930.
The court went on to rule that there would be an adverse
effect “even if the speech of [the plaintiffs] was not in fact
chilled”; it was enough that the districting plan “makes it