Posted on 09/07/2015 11:46:17 AM PDT by Brad from Tennessee
A little-noticed lawsuit brought by a Maryland man challenging the state's contorted congressional districts will be heard this fall by the Supreme Court — where it has the potential to open a new line of constitutional attack for opponents of gerrymandering.
Stephen M. Shapiro, a former federal worker from Bethesda, argues that the political map drawn by state Democrats after the 2010 census violated the First Amendment rights of Republicans by placing them in districts in which they were in the minority, marginalizing them based solely on their political views.
The issue before the Supreme Court is whether a lower court judge had the authority to dismiss the suit before it was heard by a three-judge panel. But Shapiro hopes the justices will also take an interest in his underlying claim.
Most redistricting court challenges are rooted in the 14th Amendment right to equal protection under the law. If Shapiro's approach is endorsed by federal courts, supporters say, it could open a new approach to challenging partisan political maps.
"Once you open the window of this case, it presents a fascinating question of First Amendment law," said Jeremy D. Farris, an attorney representing the good-government group Common Cause. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
After the 2000 census, GA dems redrew our rural district by joining heavily black East Atlanta with heavily black Macon 85 miles away via a narrow “land bridge” bordering I-75 South. Being in the “bridge”, we went from being represented by Newt Gingrich one day to Cynthia McKinney the next. It took SCOTUS several years to order a redo.
The really bad thing about the Houston city districts is that they draw the city limits to keep control. If they need to annex an affluent area for taxes, they always pair that with annexing enough minority neighborhoods to offset the new votes and keep control.
The gerrymandering of the city limit makes the congressional offices look like childs play.
Very Interesting.
I was all excited when Andy Harris got elected ad they redistricted. I met him one day and said it would be good to be well represented. He told me to look at the map again. His district circles right around my town so I’m still stuck with Ruppersberger.
And they added a bunch more puppet seats to city council diluting the power of those who were elected to serve on council as opposition.
This should be simple. Start with the county lines then divide the larger counties in half and combine smaller counties until they get to about equal numbers.
Sorry, but in modern America, citizens don’t get to choose their representatives. Rather, representatives select their constituencies through re-districting.
The only real way to solve the problem is to insist that L^2/A must be less than a certain numerical value (e.g., 40), where L is the perimeter length in miles and A is the area in sq. miles.
Fascinating case indeed. I prefer the method that a few state now use a “committee” or “Board” to do it. But I can see how that is going to impact each State differently. Here in CA we have it and it is a GOOD thing because it helps the GOP. And here in CA we need that help.
The worst district is 1......Annapolis doesn’t even have their own district....they cut us up into multiple districts. I lived in Arnold and have the Eastern Shore as part of the district. It doesn’t make sense....but none of the districts do. One thing I do know is that Annapolis should have its own district.
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I live in MD. The redistricting was the most assinine thing I ever saw.
The original district started with the westernmost county [Garrett], continued east into Washington County, and on into Frederick County up to the city of Frederick.
This is rural country and mostly conservative.
When they redistricted, they cut this continuity and placed a good portion of Montgomery County into the new district along with Garrett and Washington Counties. Needless to say, Montgomery County is mostly blue.
In the old district, you had a local guy who understood the needs, wants, and desires of the local populace in western Maryland. A DEM from Montgomery County won the last election and couldn’t give a fig about the western counties.
Comrade Brown’s gerrymandered district was so laid out to ensure a Black rep. In response to a court order, no less. The pubbies went along because it left Webster with a safe republican district. Now the Rats challenged, seeing the area demographics shifted in their favor to get both. Note that Comrade Brown was very much opposed to a change.
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