Fight over electoral district boundaries heads to top U.S. court

[DonViejo]

Source: Reuters


Fight over electoral district boundaries heads to top U.S. court

Andrew Chung

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It is a political practice nearly as old as the United States - manipulating the boundaries of legislative districts to help one party tighten its grip on power in a move called partisan gerrymandering - and one the Supreme Court has never curbed.

That could soon change, with the nine justices making the legal fight over Republican-drawn electoral maps in Wisconsin one of the first cases they hear during their 2017-2018 term that begins next month. Their ruling in the case could influence American politics for decades.

Wisconsin officials point to the difficulty of having courts craft a workable standard for when partisan gerrymandering violates constitutional protections. Opponents of the practice said limits are urgently needed, noting that sophisticated technological tools now enable a dominant party to devise with new precision state electoral maps that marginalize large swathes of voters in legislative elections.

“There is a sense that something has gone amiss with American democracy, that there is this effort to rig the rules of the game,” said Michael Li, an expert in redistricting at New York University School of Law’s Brennan Center for Justice. “Gerrymandering used to be a dark art, and now it’s a dark science.”



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-election/fight-over-electoral-district-boundaries-heads-to-top-u-s-court-idUSKCN1BS0FR

[lark]

1. Bad news

SCOTUS has been stolen by the right and will side with anything pro-business, pro-drumpf and pro-Repug, they don't give a shit about even trying to enforce actual laws, they are partisan hacks and nothing more - for the most part.

[RKP5637]

2. +1, n/t

[KPN]

3. Fascist SCOTUS.

[not fooled]

4. Yeah

I heard a commentator (sorry, can't remember the name for attribution) state that dump's nomination of gosuck--after mcturdle stole the seat and dump was in effect handed the name by the kochs--will turn out to be the most consequential act of his "presidency".

Tragically, that sounds accurate.

[lastlib]

6. It will likely be a few stories below the nuclear war he launches....

but in general, you're correct.

[TryLogic]

5. Easy solution? (Unless the Supreme Court really is controlled by a bunch of partisan hacks)

Require states to use existing boundaries such as counties, individually or in groups.

[PoliticAverse]

8. There are several simple ways to allocate Congressional seats that avoid the gerrymandering issue.

Last edited Sun Sep 17, 2017, 04:51 PM - Edit history (1)

the problem is those don't ensure minority representation in the way that manually selected
districts can do.

[amalasuntha]

9. So you favor gerrymandering when it suits your purpose?

But it's wrong when it suits others' purposes?

[PoliticAverse]

10. No I'm just pointing out that a simple, seemingly logical solution such as...

Last edited Sun Sep 17, 2017, 07:10 PM - Edit history (1)

using already existing counties to determine Congressional districts won't necessarily be
approved by the courts which have found that such methods don't ensure minorities have
sufficient representation.

[MichMan]

11. That was my understanding as well

I believe that the Voting Rights Act requires some amount of gerrymandering to ensure more majority minority districts. Sticking to defined established borders may very likely mean fewer minority members of congress. Apparently much of DU would be pleased with that outcome if it also got rid of partisan gerrymandering.

Its not as simple as many people think it is

[Cryptoad]

7. SCOTUS showed their hand last week,,

when they let stand the districts in TX