Bernard Norman Grofman (born December 2, 1944) is a
political scientist
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...
at the
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...
. He is an expert on redistricting and has been a
special master
In the law of the United States, a special master is an official appointed by a judge to ensure judicial orders are followed, or in the alternative, to hear evidence on behalf of the judge and make recommendations to the judge as to the dispositi ...
on several district map redrawings.
From the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
he received a B.S. (1966) in mathematics and an M.A. (1968) and Ph.D. (1972) in political science. He began teaching at the University of California, Irvine, in 1976, becoming a full professor in 1980.
His works include ''Quiet Revolution in the South: The Impact of the Voting Rights Act, 1965-1990'' (with
Chandler Davidson, eds., 1994), ''Legacies of the 1964 Civil Rights Act'' (ed., 2000), ''Political Science as Puzzle Solving'' (ed., 2001), ''A Unified Theory of Voting'' (with
Samuel Merrill III, 1999), and ''A Unified Theory of Party Competition'' (with James Adams and Samuel Merrill III, 2005), among many others. He also published over 200 articles in periodicals.
He has published several articles under the pseudonym "A. Wuffle" or "Uncle Wuffle", with the conceit that Wuffle was Grofman's associate or assistant, including "The pure theory of elevators" (''Mathematics Magazine'', 1982), "Should you brush your teeth on November 6, 1984?: A rational choice perspective" (''PS'', 1984), "A corollary to the third axiom of general semantics" (''Journal of Theoretical Politics'', 1992), or "Death where is thy sting? The Senate as a Ponce (de Leon) scheme" (''PS'', 1997).
In 2015, Grofman was appointed as a
special master
In the law of the United States, a special master is an official appointed by a judge to ensure judicial orders are followed, or in the alternative, to hear evidence on behalf of the judge and make recommendations to the judge as to the dispositi ...
to redraw
Virginia's congressional districts after US federal judges ruled that the previous districts were unconstitutionally
gerrymander
Gerrymandering, ( , originally ) defined in the contexts of Representative democracy, representative electoral systems, is the political manipulation of Boundary delimitation, electoral district boundaries to advantage a Political party, pa ...
ed to pack one district with African-Americans and dilute their influence through the rest of the state. The
US Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...
declined to intervene, allowing Grofman's maps to be used.
In 2018, Grofman was again appointed as a
special master
In the law of the United States, a special master is an official appointed by a judge to ensure judicial orders are followed, or in the alternative, to hear evidence on behalf of the judge and make recommendations to the judge as to the dispositi ...
to redraw the districts for
Virginia's House of Delegates.
References
External links
Bernard Grofman's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grofman, Bernard
1944 births
American political scientists
Living people
University of California, Irvine faculty
University of Chicago alumni