Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Gerrymandering Case May Be Most Important Decision SCOTUS Faces

[applegrove]

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/ruth-bader-ginsburg-gerrymandering_us_59736a9de4b00e4363dfd3c8

by Sam Levine the Huffington Post

"SNIP..............


Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says a case dealing with how far political parties can go to draw election districts to their benefit might be the “most important” the court will hear next term.

Ginsburg made the comments at a Duke Law School event Friday while referring to Gill v. Whitford, a case in which plaintiffs are challenging Wisconsin’s 2011 map for the state assembly as unconstitutional. A panel of three federal judges ruled 2-1 last year the Republican-drawn map violated the constitution. After the redistricting, Republicans won 48.6 percent of the vote in 2012, but triumphed in 60 of the state’s 99 electoral districts.

The case is significant because the Supreme Court has never set a standard for when a partisan gerrymander is unconstitutional, though it has written critically of them in the past. If the Supreme Court were to uphold the ruling of the lower court, it could dramatically limit the ability of parties to redraw electoral maps to their advantage in the next round of redistricting following the 2020 Census.

Justice Anthony Kennedy is being closely watched as the swing vote in the case because he has written in previous redistricting cases that a standard for striking gerrymanders down may exist. Plaintiffs are expected to offer a slew of standards and formulas to Kennedy for when a gerrymander goes too far in hopes of offering one he might find acceptable. One such standard that has gotten much attention is called the “efficiency gap,” which offers a mathematical formula to calculate wasted votes in an electoral district.


.................SNIP"

[DuckBurp]

1. This needs to get more coverage in the media.

[LuckyLib]

2. She's correct. G mandering cost us the election.

Repugs have been engineering it slowly but surely for decades.

[mitch96]

13. "Repugs have been engineering it slowly but surely for decades."

Yup, it's in their bag of dirty tricks like voter suppression and Faux noise..
m

[MiddleClass]

3. This is huge, if Kennedy goes the right way, imagine if we had justice Garland

Damn, McConnell damn you to hell

[Hekate]

4. KnR. I'm mixed in the publicity issue, given the times. Truly hope it comes up while Kennedy ...

...is still there, and may RBG remain in good health.

[Golden Raisin]

5. Justice Ginsburg is 1000% correct.

Gerrymandering is a huge, crucial issue in the manipulation of the results of our election cycles (to say nothing of Russian and other homegrown meddling influences, etc.) Amazingly, ex-Governor Schwarzenegger of California has been speaking out strongly against gerrymandering and the crucial importance of fixing this terrible problem.

[dem in texas]

6. Yes! Gerrymandering is at the root of all the problems with politics today.

Safe districts, no need to compromise, just throw up obstacles, dilute votes by packing all of one party into one district or pull out of district to change the vote all of this is because of gerrymandering. Everyone should be aware of this major flaw in our democratic process.. Way to go Ruth - you are my opera lovin' idol!

[thesquanderer]

7. No one is sure which party will be in power when the maps are next redrawn

which at least could help keep political pressures out of it.

[BigmanPigman]

8. Ex CA gov Schwarzenegger was on CNN today discussing this

with Smerconish. He was saying that the CA voters voted to end gerrymandering and the same thing needs to happen in other states so there can be fair, bi partisan work again at the federal level. He's a Repub and was very sincere in his disappointment for his party and how they have "fixed" elections so that they always win. They also discussed how the Supreme Court is looking into a ruling from Wisconsin that could help to change gerrymandering rules in the country.

[Thinkingabout]

9. This would be some of the greatest news for Texans, Tom Delay did a number on this state.

[tritsofme]

10. Any time I see Ginsberg's name mentioned in a headline my heart skips a beat

until I see the context...it is a reflex. We need her wisdom now more than ever, if she can bring Kennedy along on this decision or would be an incredible accomplishment.

[OldRedneck]

11. Read this book . . .

The title is a bit inelegant but the message will keep you awake nights.

"Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn't Count," by David Daley

[LiberalLovinLug]

12. This is one of the main reasons they stole ajudge

Mitch knew this was coming up.