Supreme Court weighs Republican challenge to Maryland electoral map

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

MARCH 28, 2018 / 12:15 AM / UPDATED 36 MINUTES AGO
Lawrence Hurley


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday considers for the second time in recent months whether to rein in politicians who draw state electoral maps with the aim of entrenching their party in power in a case involving a Maryland congressional district.

The justices heard a similar case on Oct. 3 in which Democratic voters challenged state legislative district boundaries drawn by Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin, and have not yet issued a ruling. On Wednesday, they are set to hear an hour-long argument in a challenge by Republican voters to a U.S. House of Representatives district drawn by Maryland Democrats.

Both cases center on a practice known as partisan gerrymandering that involves manipulating boundaries of legislative districts to benefit one party and diminish another. The Supreme Court for decades has been willing to invalidate state electoral maps due to racial discrimination but never those created just for partisan advantage.

The rulings in the Maryland and Wisconsin cases, due by the end of June, could alter the U.S. political landscape, either by imposing limits on partisan gerrymandering or by allowing it even in its most extreme forms.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-gerrymandering/supreme-court-weighs-republican-challenge-to-maryland-electoral-map-idUSKBN1H40JE?rpc=401&

[C Moon]

1. If one weighs something Republican, it will always tip the scale to their side.

Even (and especially) in the criminal justice system.
The ONLY explanation for that is money.

[SergeStorms]

2. Hasn't precedent already been set.....

with the Pennsylvania rulings? I'm sure the circumstances don't completely mirror each other, but it's already been shown that the SC isn't going to let either political party gain an advantage over the other by blatant gerrymandering.

[DeminPennswoods]

3. No, PA case was based on PA's constitution

The PA map was ruled not in compliance with our state's constitution that calles for compact districts and keeping municipalities in tact. Partisan gerrymandering was not even mentioned in the court's order or decision.

The map that was approved after the 2010 Census was an extreme partisan gerrymander, which is why Dems, League of Women Voters et al challenged the map in court. But the partisan gerrymander is not why the court found the map to be unconstitutional.

The federal courts refused to intervene because the PA supreme court made its ruling strictly based on the state's constitution.

[SergeStorms]

5. Ahhhh.....

thanks for the explanation.

[docgee]

4. Fine. If it's gerrymandered, we should fix it.

It would make it easier to get rulings in favor of fixing gerrymandered districts all around. Let's have a wave of fixing districts. We will win that contest.