Gerrymandering
A new independent redistricting commission erased a GOP gerrymander, fueling Democratic optimism that they can flip one — and maybe both — state legislative chambers.
State legislatures will be in the spotlight as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling giving the power to regulate abortion to the states.
Gerrymandering gets a bad rap, but the remapping of electoral districts every decade is required by our constitution. Here’s why and how the people who redraw our electoral districts have the power to alter our election results for years to come.
The decision is a win for the Republican-dominated redistricting commission, which passed five straight sets of legislative maps that couldn’t meet constitutional muster.
WHAT'S HAPPENING
“No argument is too crazy to try” before the Supreme Court’s six-vote conservative supermajority, one attorney said.
In two contradictory rulings, the Republican-appointed justice finds consistency based on whether Republicans stand to gain.
Congressional district maps drawn by state courts will remain in North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
Four conservative justices seem open to the move, which would eviscerate voting rights and allow gerrymandering to be enshrined.
Republican efforts to make congressional districts uncompetitive mean the only real election is the GOP primary, and the only way to win is to run far to the right.
“Today’s decision is one more in a disconcertingly long line of cases in which this Court uses its shadow docket,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote in a scathing dissent.