Saving Democracy in Florida

[n2doc]

BY JEFFREY TOOBIN

A Supreme Court decision that relatively few people have heard of continues to haunt American politics. A decade ago, in the case of Richard Vieth et al. v. Jubelirer, a group of Pennsylvania voters challenged a partisan gerrymander that Republicans had engineered in the state after the 2000 census. By a five-to-four margin, the Court’s conservative majority ruled against the plaintiffs and found, in effect, that state representatives had free rein to draw district lines—even when they were designed solely to protect members of their political party.

With that green light from the Justices, partisan gerrymandering has become more of a blight in the past ten years. Armed with sophisticated software, state lawmakers can draw districts with ever-greater precision to include or exclude voters of one party or another. The result is that the vast majority of seats in the House of Representatives (and state legislatures) are not competitive. The constituents don’t pick their representatives; rather, the representatives pick their constituents. Both parties engage in the practice, but Republicans have had better opportunities in recent years, especially since 2010, when the census coincided with a Republican landslide. The G.O.P. locked in gains in a range of states, including Pennsylvania (again), Ohio, and Florida.

The redistricting behavior of state legislators has become so craven that a modest political backlash has developed, and a few hopeful signs have emerged. One came last month, in Florida. The Supreme Court had ruled out challenges to partisan redistricting under the United States Constitution, but states remain free to limit the practice under their own laws. In 2010, Florida voters passed an amendment to the state constitution that banned the creation of legislative districts “with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent.” Republicans in Tallahassee fought to keep the law from going into effect, but the state Supreme Court rejected their efforts, and then a group of voters, in a case led by the lawyers David King and John Devaney, challenged the congressional lines that the Republicans drew in 2010.

more

http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/saving-democracy-florida

[HooptieWagon]

1. A bit a clarification.

The Fl judge ruled only 2 districts were gerrymandered, most notably Rep Corrine Brown's district, which wiggles and squirms from Jacksonville nearly to Orlando, in an effort to sqeeze as many African-Americans into it as possible. Rep Brown backed this gerrymandering, as it created her a safe seat to beat all safe seats.
There are several other gerrymandered districts that remain, I guess the judge figured they weren't excessively so. It is unknown whether the districts will be redrawn before the primary or midterms.... GOP is arguing in court to delay the redrawing until after Nov.
The main problem in Florida remains not gerrymandering, but a completely dysfunctional state party more committed to keeping progressives out than they are to defeating republicans. Indeed, they are welcoming ex-republicans with open arms to further strengthen their corporatist stranglehold on the party. I'm not going to tell people how to vote... everybody needs to vote their conscience. However, I do request people not to donate to the state party. Donate to individual candidates, donate to one of several progressive groups, but don't donate to the Florida Democratic Party.

[onethatcares]

2. As a citizen of Florida

I was under the impression that if 2 districts were drawn incorrectly, that would negate the rest of the districts. It's like taking a square, divide it in two, then change it to three sections it changes everything. I also thought that if two districts elected representatives in unconstitutional districts those same representatives would not qualify as being elected, no matter what. One has to be constitutionally elected or the election should not stand.

does that make any sense?