CHAUTAUQUA — New generations of Americans should not be afraid to think outside the box.

Because demographic anxiety is becoming a popular topic, Michael Li, a lawyer, said it is on the shoulders of new generations to redefine the United States.

“That is our challenge, our task,” he said.

Li talked to members of an Amphitheater audience Thursday on the theme “The Vote and Democracy.”

“You know, it is easy to sort of like curl up in a ball sometimes and think like, all is lost. But you know, at this moment, we should be brave like the founding generation,” he added.

Li looks at how, following the 2020 census, redistricting efforts have played out across the country, how that redistricting will impact politics in the long-term and short-term, and if our current model of redistricting is truly the best path forward, according to assembly.chq.org.

He said the way that the lines that are used for elections, also referred to as gerrymandering, may be hard for people to grasp. According to dictionary.com, to gerrymander means the dividing of a state, county, etc., into election districts so as to give one political party a majority in many districts while concentrating the voting strength of the other party into as few districts as possible.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who writes controversial opinions, including the overturning of Roe v. Wade, he added, actually helped Li with his own argument about redistricting. Alito, Li contends, said that women are not without electoral of political power.

The big idea coming from Alito, Li noted, is the idea that if people don’t like the laws that are passed by lawmakers, just vote them out.

Li said in 2019 the Supreme Court had a chance to say that partisan gerrymandering violated the U.S. Constitution in the case Rucho v. Common Cause. The Supreme Court, Li said, said gerrymandering is complicated, and the court did not want to decide cases about gerrymandering for fear of becoming political. Li said that decision has opened the door to gerrymandering because officials can claim they are gerrymandering for political purposes.

“And unfortunately, it hasn’t just opened the door to partisan discrimination. It’s also opened the door to a lot of racial discrimination,” Li said.

Recently, Li noted, some states tried to enact redistricting reforms. He said probably more states would have followed, but the pandemic stalled the progress. Two states, Michigan and Ohio, adopted reforms. Michigan, he said, used to have some of the most gerrymandered maps in the U.S. Currently, there are very fair maps in Michigan.

“I will say a caveat that there still was a question about whether there might need to be some adjustments to fully, fairly treat communities of color, but that will be something that needs to happen will happen,” he added.

In Ohio, he said, voters adopted a reform that had passed through the legislature that left line drawing in the hands of the legislature. It was a weak reform, he said, because the people who draw the maps are still elected officials.

Courts in Ohio, Li noted, can strike down a map although they can’t put in place a new map. Courts have send it back to the people who drew the last gerrymandered map and ask for it to be fixed.

“That has not happened in Ohio, either at the congressional level or the legislative level,” Li said.

Li serves as senior counsel for the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program, where his work focuses on redistricting, voting rights and elections. Prior to joining the Brennan Center, Li practiced law at Baker Botts L.L.P. in Dallas for 10 years. The author of a widely cited blog on redistricting and election law issues that The New York Times called “indispensable,” he is a regular writer and commentator on election law issues, appearing on PBS Newshour, MSNBC, and NPR, and in print in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Roll Call, Vox, National Journal, Texas Tribune, Dallas Morning News, and San Antonio Express-News, among others.

In addition to his election law work, Li previously served as executive director of Be One Texas, a donor alliance that oversaw strategic and targeted investments in nonprofit organizations working to increase voter participation and engagement in historically disadvantaged African American and Hispanic communities in Texas. Li received his JD with honors from Tulane Law School and an undergraduate degree in history from the University of Texas at Austin.