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Supreme Court faces major decision on partisan gerrymandering
The Hill ^
| 06/17/18
| Lydia Wheeler
Posted on 06/17/2018 4:44:26 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
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In the 1960's Democrats began to gerrymander like mad to create 'minority-majority' districts where blacks could be elected.
Now Democrats are complaining about the gerrymandered 'ghettos' Democrats created.
To: yesthatjallen
Gerrymandering is corruption. It is vote farming. Both parties do it. Did I mention it is corruption? It is corrupt. Wicked and evil too.
2
posted on
06/17/2018 4:58:53 PM PDT
by
lurk
To: yesthatjallen
I WISH they would look at Arizona. The Dems illegally gerrymandered this state in 2010 and Gov Brewer sued. A Clinton judge threw out the lawsuit and the Left was able to Gerrymander Kirsten Sinema into a seat that she is using as a springboard to her Senate run. CHEATING! And CRIMINAL DEM JUDGES!
3
posted on
06/17/2018 5:08:06 PM PDT
by
originalbuckeye
('In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act'- George Orwell.)
To: yesthatjallen
The court has longed shied away from policing congressional maps without a clear way to measure how much political bias in redistricting is too much...didn't stop the 'rat-infested Pennsylvania Supreme Court from throwing out a GOP backed Penna map in favor of the Democrat-preferred one that will probably give the Dems a couple more House seats this fall......
To: lurk
Somebody has to select boundaries. They have to use some guidelines or objectives.
Someone else is going to complain.
5
posted on
06/17/2018 5:20:57 PM PDT
by
Paladin2
To: originalbuckeye
That’s exactly the same story for Tammy Duckworth. Democrats gerrymandered the IL 8th, so she got elected to the House, then later she went on to the Senate.
6
posted on
06/17/2018 5:24:21 PM PDT
by
virgil
(The evil that men do lives after them)
To: Paladin2
Good point...we all see wacky boundaries and I'd like to see more common sense applied with some contiguous considerations, but someone will still always bitch and moan about the unfairness of it. Who's to judge but the party in power ?
7
posted on
06/17/2018 5:32:33 PM PDT
by
chiller
(If liberals didn't have double standards, they'd have none at all.)
To: Paladin2
Good point...we all see wacky boundaries and I'd like to see more common sense applied with some contiguous considerations, but someone will still always bitch and moan about the unfairness of it. Who's to judge but the party in power ?
8
posted on
06/17/2018 5:33:14 PM PDT
by
chiller
(If liberals didn't have double standards, they'd have none at all.)
To: yesthatjallen
The dems would lose probably half their seats across the country if the courts drops gerrymandering.
I think elections should be across counties only as the smallest voting block, AND they should be vertically and horizontally congruent.
9
posted on
06/17/2018 5:35:00 PM PDT
by
CodeToad
To: yesthatjallen
A decision on one outstanding ruling is possible tomorrow at 10 am.
10
posted on
06/17/2018 5:36:33 PM PDT
by
SMGFan
(Sarah Michelle Gellar is on twitter @SarahMGellar)
To: virgil
Hers was the worst, her district looked like a Rorschach ink blot.
11
posted on
06/17/2018 5:43:43 PM PDT
by
bigbob
(Trust Sessions. Trust the Plan.)
To: lurk
Gerrymandering is corruption. It is vote farming. Both parties do it. Did I mention it is corruption? It is corrupt. Wicked and evil too.I've never seen it actually DO something. 99% of the time you create, say, a new white district while at the same time, created a new black one.
It's mostly deck chair reshuffling.
To: yesthatjallen
My, ‘Little Inner Libertarian’ wants me to leave this here:
“The smallest minority on Earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.” ~ Ayn Rand
Man, Oh, Man! Has our Government subverted OUR RIGHTS at EVERY opportunity, for THEIR gain.
*SPIT*
P.S. ‘Minorities’ has NOTHING to do with race, religion, creed or color. It’s ALL of us AMERICANS, individually who make up the whole.
13
posted on
06/17/2018 5:50:49 PM PDT
by
Diana in Wisconsin
(I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
To: Diana in Wisconsin
Sessions is not a fan of personal liberty. Nor is most of the DoJ. That’s a problem.
14
posted on
06/17/2018 6:14:36 PM PDT
by
Paladin2
To: yesthatjallen
This is going to be a hard decision.
In past, federal judges have thrown out race neutral maps, because it diluted the minority vote; but they have also thrown out maps that guaranteed minority representation in some districts, because it was argued that had they been race neutral, minorities *might* have picked up seats in other districts.
Yep, the SCOTUS is going to earn its beer with this one.
15
posted on
06/17/2018 6:25:57 PM PDT
by
yefragetuwrabrumuy
(Liberals have become moralistic, dogmatic, sententious, self-righteous, pinch-faced prudes.)
To: Paladin2
At the other end of the spectrum - I give you Guam.
There are 15 members of the territorial legislature (Called Senators) they are all elected at large. No district’s whatsoever. This also breeds corruption as what you get is a revolving door where you get members of the same families or clans elected.
I would like to see congressional districts limited to 250,000 people. That would add seats in congress but it would also negate the supposed reason for Gerrymandering as “Minority-Majority” districts would be easier to obtain with squinting at the map.
16
posted on
06/17/2018 6:31:51 PM PDT
by
Fai Mao
(There is no rule of law in the US until The PIAPS is executed.)
To: eddie willers
I've never seen it actually DO something.
Actually, you see it all the time. There are far too many 'safe' seats where they have packed them to ensure one or the other party can count on that seat.
However, a thought experiment (which actually happened in one of the districts I live in) shows how it would work:
- Consider four districts, all approximately equal in which way they might vote (as is the country as a whole.)
- Pack one district with 95% likely Republican voters.
- The remaining three districts are now highly likely to vote Democrat.
Ths is what happened in Texas as the state changed from almost exclusively Democrat before the 60's into mostly Republican today. My congressional district was so packed with likely Republicans that the incumbent seldom had anyone running against him. But that meant the surrounding districts were much more likely to vote Democrat. My district had sections on opposite sides of a lake, but those were 'contiguous' as far as the Dim legislature was concerned.
They swung too far in making "majority-minority" districts so that (as so often happens with the Dims) the opposite effect held: too many "minority" Dims in one district let other districts turn Republican. But there have definitely been examples where gerrymandering 'did' something.
17
posted on
06/17/2018 6:52:57 PM PDT
by
Phlyer
To: yesthatjallen
Predicted criteria from the Court: any ‘gerrymandering’ that benefits conservatives (or by association, Trump) is automatically unconstitutional.
18
posted on
06/17/2018 7:17:10 PM PDT
by
backwoods-engineer
(Enjoy the decline of the American empire.)
To: yefragetuwrabrumuy
Gerrymandering is named for Elbridge Gerry, one of the Founding Fathers, a Signer of the Declaration of Independence.
He was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, so his invention should be constitutional. On the other hand, he did not sign the Constitution when it was completed. So maybe his support doesn't make it constitutional.
To: yesthatjallen
One simple thing would be to not allow the crossing of a jurisdictional line, like that of a city or county.
I remember two such stunts in my prior tenure in the DPRM:
1) College Park was cut in half by the dems, placing each in an adjoining district. This eliminated any student vote from being effective.
2) Again, later,the dems, apparently wanting more party purity, changed Connie Morella’s (R) district from solely Montgomery county areas to include Prince George’s county. That took her out the next election.
20
posted on
06/17/2018 7:32:18 PM PDT
by
fruser1
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