{"id":134916,"date":"2017-10-04T08:02:39","date_gmt":"2017-10-04T14:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=134916"},"modified":"2017-10-05T07:49:19","modified_gmt":"2017-10-05T13:49:19","slug":"will-supreme-court-gerrymandering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/10\/04\/will-supreme-court-gerrymandering.html","title":{"rendered":"What will the Supreme Court do about gerrymandering?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Everyone, even the staunchest conservatives on the court, admit that gerrymandering — the political party in power drawing district lines to favor their party’s future electoral success<\/a>\u00a0— is distasteful and hampers democracy. The particular Wisconsin case before them stands as a stark example — the GOP legislative \/ executive majority redrawing maps such that in 2012 they received a minority of statewide votes for the legislature, but still won 60 of 99 legislative seats.<\/p>\n

The debate seems to be what the heck SCOTUS can do about it (or, it appears from Gorsuch’s questions and comments, are they even allowed<\/i> to do anything about it). Given the very narrow margins in anticipated votes (Anthony Kennedy will almost certainly be the swing here, yet again<\/a>), if they do decide against Wisconsin, we can’t expect any sort of sweeping dictate of using non-partisan commissions and the like. The test for whether unallowable gerrymandering has occurred will need to be clear (so that the courts don’t get immersed in challenges to every redistricting), and the remediation as unintrusive as possible (in keeping with the states fundamental Constitutional power to manage their own elections, within the overarching bonds of other principles such as “one man, one vote”).<\/p>\n

It’s interesting, if perhaps disheartening, that there seems to be as much debate within SCOTUS about this from an institutional basis as discussion of the merits and Constitutional principles. Roberts, in particular, seems tugged more by not wanting the courts to seem too political (or be overwhelmed with future suits), but also being concerned that doing nothing will send its own message about SCOTUS partisanship or impotence.<\/p>\n

I truly hope that they manage to find a majority path to actually doing something. Regardless of the party doing it [1], gerrymandering is fundamentally anti-democratic, and a clear exercise of power breeding corruption. Its expanded and systematic use is a challenge to the very nature of our society and government and will, in the end, present an existential danger to both.<\/p>\n

——
\n[1] Yes, both parties have done it over the years, to their discredit. That doesn’t make it somehow wrong to prevent it; on the contrary it makes it all the more critical to do so. That said, the current wave of gerrymandering stems from the significant statehouse wins the GOP made in 2010, and their use of the latest technology to maximize their ongoing advantage following the 2010 census decennial redistricting. This imbalance has meant that Republican defenders of the practice can argue both that “both sides do it (so don’t pick on us when we do)” and<\/i> “this is a partisan effort by the Dems against the GOP (because overturning this will hurt us most)”.<\/p>\n


\n
\n<\/a>
\nPartisan Gerrymandering: How Much Is Too Much?<\/a><\/span>
\nThe Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in a gerrymandering case that could have sweeping political consequences.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Everyone, even the staunchest conservatives on the court, admit that gerrymandering — the political party in power drawing district lines to favor their party’s future electoral success\u00a0— is distasteful and hampers democracy. The particular Wisconsin case before them stands as a stark example — the GOP legislative \/ executive majority redrawing maps such that in … Continue reading “What will the Supreme Court do about gerrymandering?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,358,347],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-poor-citizenship","category-voting-rights"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/gerrymander-protest.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":132773,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/06\/a-win-against-gerrymandering.html","url_meta":{"origin":134916,"position":0},"title":"A win against gerrymandering","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 6-Feb-17 4:06pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A federal court panel has refused to delay implementation of its ruling that the state of Wisconsin so gerrymandered their election districts as to act unconstitutionally by effectively disenfranchising some of its citizens. While the original decision is being appealed, the state is under court order to develop a suitable\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":135654,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/13\/alabama-example-gerrymandering.html","url_meta":{"origin":134916,"position":1},"title":"An Alabama Example of Gerrymandering","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 13-Dec-17 2:14pm","format":false,"excerpt":"This is why politicians -- primarily, at the moment, GOP ones -- like gerrymandering. Also an example of why some conservatives want to get rid of the 17th Amendment and move US Senate elections back to the (gerrymandered) state legislatures. Jones won 49% of the state-wide vote; Moore won 48%.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/alabama-jones-moore-gerrymander.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":32047,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/01\/04\/gerrymandering-and-partisan-results.html","url_meta":{"origin":134916,"position":2},"title":"Gerrymandering and partisan results","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 4-Jan-13 12:01am","format":false,"excerpt":"It's becoming clearer that gerrymandering -- something both sides do, but which the GOP in particular was able to exploit in 2010 -- is a dangerously un-democratic practice. The House imbalance toward the Republicans -- who got more seats but fewer aggregate votes than the Democrats in 2012 -- would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":137039,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/09\/05\/north-carolinas-gop-manage-to-successfully-run-out-the-clock-on-gerrymandering.html","url_meta":{"origin":134916,"position":3},"title":"North Carolina’s GOP manage to successfully run out the clock on gerrymandering","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 5-Sep-18 11:18pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Though a federal court found that the state legislature's districting plan is rigged to favor the GOP and \"constitutes an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the First Amendment, and Article I of the Constitution,\" the same court has now ruled that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/north-carolina-gerrymander.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":51637,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/29\/scotus-rules-the-citizenry-can-act-as-the-legislature.html","url_meta":{"origin":134916,"position":4},"title":"SCOTUS rules the citizenry can act as the legislature","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 29-Jun-15 9:56am","format":false,"excerpt":"In this (very important case) by deciding how redistricting can be done. Gerrymandering has a shameful record among both parties, but the GOP really went to town with it after the 2010 census. The Supreme Court, though, has now ruled that state popular initiatives can change the redistricting process to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":135784,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/01\/09\/first-time-federal-ruling-partisan-gerrymandering.html","url_meta":{"origin":134916,"position":5},"title":"A first-time federal ruling against partisan gerrymandering","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 9-Jan-18 10:46pm","format":false,"excerpt":"And I say huzzah. Gerrymandering -- by any political party to achieve and sustain its staying in power -- is anti-democratic and wrong. That's true whichever party is doing it (though at present most challenges are against the GOP, who were most recently in a position to game the system\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/unnamed-43.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134916"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134930,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134916\/revisions\/134930"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}