Rucho

Rucho is a surname of Italian origin. In popular reference, the term is most widely associated with the U.S. Supreme Court case Rucho v. Common Cause (2019), a landmark decision in American election law concerning partisan gerrymandering.

Rucho v. Common Cause challenged the fairness of congressional redistricting in North Carolina. The Court ruled, in a 5–4 decision, that claims of partisan gerrymandering present a non-justiciable political question and are not reviewable by federal courts under the Constitution. The majority held that there is no workable constitutional standard for determining when partisan advantage crosses a line, and therefore federal courts must refrain from intervening in partisan redistricting disputes. The ruling thus shifted the battleground to state processes and argued that remedies for partisan manipulation are better addressed through elections, state constitutions, or legislative reform rather than federal court intervention.

Dissenters, led by Justice Stephen Breyer and joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan, argued that the Court impeded a legitimate constitutional inquiry into the fairness and integrity of electoral maps. The decision has had a lasting impact on the legal landscape of election law in the United States, shaping both arguments and strategies around redistricting challenges. While federal courts are constrained from ruling on partisan gerrymandering claims, states retain authority to address such issues through their own courts, constitutions, and electoral reform measures.