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Monday, April 29th, 2019

A Federal Court Makes an Aggressive Move Against Partisan Gerrymandering

Author:     David A. Graham
Source:     The Atlantic
Publication Date:     APR 25, 2019
 Link: A Federal Court Makes an Aggressive Move Against Partisan Gerrymandering
Stephan:   Here is some good news about gerrymandering, and once again it is the courts not the executive or legislative branches that are making this correction possible. But, as this report lays out, we won't know the real outcome until the Supreme Court rules. This is yet another example illustrating why Mitch McConnell is trying to pack the courts with christofascists as quickly as he can before the 2020 election occurs. The effects of his program are going to haunt us for a generation, even if the Senate turns Democratic.

The Michigan Capitol building is pictured in Lansing, Michigan,
Credit: Reuters/Rebecca Cook

A panel of federal judges in Michigan on Thursday unanimously struck down nearly 30 of the state’s U.S. House and state legislative districts as unconstitutional. Furthermore, the court ordered special early elections for several state-Senate seats—an unusual and aggressive remedy. It’s the latest in a string of rulings that show federal courts are more open to claims that partisan gerrymandering violates the U.S. Constitution, and more willing to employ strong measures to halt it.

It will be impossible to assess the full impact of the Michigan ruling until the U.S. Supreme Court issues its ruling on a pair of partisan-gerrymandering cases that it heard in March from Maryland and North Carolina. The high court has approached partisan-gerrymandering cases cautiously, punting a Wisconsin case back to a lower court to determine whether the plaintiffs had standing.

But while the justices hesitate, partisan gerrymandering has become a major issue in lower courts. Most of these cases spring from redistricting conducted after the 2010 census. That year, […]

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