A Tiny Light?
For the first time EVER, a federal court has struck down a state redistricting plan as being unconstitutional because it was a partisan gerrymander purely for political advantage. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued the ruling yesterday calling the North Carolina plan a violation of the 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection. More important, the ruling was unanimous. In a blazing 191 page opinion, Judge James A. Wynn, Jr. said the Republican plan was “motivated by invidious partisan intent” designed to advantage Republicans over Democrats in a permanent unfixable majority. Case in point, in the 2016 election, the vote for House seats split 53-47 Republican to Democrat, but seats were won 10-3. So, a 6% advantage turned into 77% control. Judge Wynn also cited the Republican representative who drew the map saying:
“Rather than seeking to advance any democratic or constitutional interest, the state legislator responsible for drawing the 2016 Plan said he drew the map to advantage Republican candidates because he ‘think[s] electing Republicans is better than electing Democrats.’ But that is not a choice the Constitution allows legislative mapdrawers to make. Rather, “the core principle of [our] republican government [is] that the voters should choose their representatives, not the other way around.”
Boom.
Looking at the North Carolina map (and many others, like Texas) one with a functioning pair of eyes and at least a teaspoon of common sense would call those maps unfair. The Supreme Court has tried for decades to avoid ruling on gerrymandering, and has even ruled that partisan gerrymandering is OK, but recent extreme examples like North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Texas has brought the issue to forefront once again, and the courts are finally starting to come out of their collective judicial comas. Computer based algorithms allow mapdrawers to slice and dice neighborhoods in ways never dreamed possible in years past. The Supreme Court has turned a blind eye and has allowed gerrymandering to become a terminal cancer on democracy if it’s not stopped. It degrades confidence in the system and drives radical partisanship. If anyone doubts that, look up idiots like Louie Gohmert, Blake Farenthold, Sheila Jackson Lee, John Culberson and many others. Over 90% of House seats are uncompetitive. Because of gerrymandering, representatives answer to a minority base to the detriment of all other constituents. They rake in money while being grossly negligent of their Constitutional duties.
Enough of this is enough. Perhaps this ruling will finally force the Supreme Court to stop radical gerrymandering and drive the states to pass non-partisan redistricting commissions. It’s long past time that we take redistricting out of the hands of those who are advantaged by their corruption and put into the hands of those who are supposed to be served.
‘Bout damn time!
1I would like to see the movie version of this ruling. Starring Samuel L. Jackson in “Snakes On A Map.”
“We’ve got, to get, these…”
2Wait until demented donnies pets on the supreme court get hold of this.
3The ruling will be overturned by partisan hacks obeying their betters by 5-4 vote at SCOTUS. With the Solicitor Gneral argueing in favor of gerrymandering.
A transient ineffective victory that in the end will mean nothing.
Glad for NC but when will we get some relief from the crooked Texas legislative heroes on our racially gerrymandered districts? Talk, talk, talk but as usual the GOP will do anything to protect their backwards butts.
4@Rick, “Get these monkey-fightin’ districts off this Monday-to-Friday map!”
Yes, Maryland is gerrymandered for a Democratic advantage. I voted against that map. But it’s hard to say we should fix ours when half a dozen others are gerrymandered for a more severe GOP advantage. Put an end to ALL partisan gerrymandering and make votes mean something again.
We have a closing window of opportunity to fix the problem, because the GOP gerrymandering has already come close to cementing their advantage in legislatures and courts despite their shortfall in votes. If we don’t get it corrected now, we may be in for a very long period of minority GOP rule.
5Hooray!!!!!
6A bit off topic, but it has been fun tweeting this to
@seanhannity @TuckerCarlson @FoxNew @FoxNewsSunday @mitchellreports @TheJuanWilliams and the wackos who made this statement on national teevee: “Media Proclaims Trump Presidency Back On Track” https://crooksandliars.com/2018/01/media-proclaims-trump-presidency-back
@GloriaBorger @DanaBashCNN You could not get past his BLACK skin, but, Obama – Intelligent, Educated, Accomplished, Classy, Empowering, Compassionate, Sense of Humor AND Most Admired Man in America PRESIDENTIAL
7http://memegenerator.net/instance/81072921#.WlawGiuduFA.twitter
Excellent news and a good post on an important topic. Thanks.
8Gerrymandering…rePUKEian controlled voter fraud!
9Added to this is the lack of availability of voting stations and time for groups that don’t vote rePUKEian! Then there is the criminal voter ID thing!
Yes! Trumpkin there is voter fraud…by YOU!!
Where there once was no light at all, a tiny light is actually a laser beam! Since it was a unanimous decision, the donnie pets on SCOTUS might think twice or so about taking this up inasmuch as it would not be easy for them to euthanize.
10Yes, get rid of gerrymandering, but keep in mind that doing so will make worse the problem of campaign financing. The more competitive the districts the more time the congresscritter has to take away from his or her real work to raise money for re-election. Let’s attack both problems.
11Charles:
12JMO, but next item on my list would be abolishing the Electoral College. I’ve always wanted to know who gets into the college, why and what parties do they represent by percentage. I believe each and every citizen vote should determine who will be the potus, not the votes of just a select few.
I suspect the emergence of political parties and their influence has served to diminish the framers’ intent for the electoral college. However, I still believe the framers intended an indirect election of president and vice-president and that the popular vote should influence and guide the electors in their choices.
13Let’s not get too crazy about abolishing the Electoral College. Democrats can usually count on winning California, Oregon, Hawaii, Washington, New York, Illinois, most of the Northeast, etc. We start with about 180 Electoral votes. The Democrats lost in 2016 because we could not hold Pennsylvania, Ohio. Michigan and Wisconsin and we lost those states by very close margins.
14Well it happened the partisan hacks at the thuglican supreme court got their marching orders and like good little minions they obeyed.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/supreme-court-north-carolina-gerrymandering_us_5a612d58e4b01d91b2543b95
Ans so the thuglican judiciary gets to work toe enshrine the thuglicans as legal masters of the country.
15