Judges give Democrats access to GOP legislative redistricting process

Madison - For the second time this month, a three-judge panel ruled Tuesday that a Democratic group has a right to an array of information on how Republican lawmakers drew new legislative districts.

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Democrats are claiming that the new districts are unconstitutional because minority districts are diluted, thus depriving them of representation, and have filed a lawsuit against Wisconsin Republicans. Here is the way I see it:

I have no love for Governor Walker and his extremist agenda, but face it. Republicans won in 2010, and to the victors belong the spoils. Unless there really IS an effort to rid the state of minority districts and representation, then Democrats should quit whining, and accept their defeat for what it is - A defeat. We will find out more about the lawsuit as it progresses through the courts. It is my opinion, however, that lawsuits have been traditionally filed by one party or the other if they did not like the way the districts were drawn up. I have a sneaking suspicion that this may be the case here too. Stay tuned. We will know more, as the lawsuit moves along. Do Democrats have a right to know the basis on which the new districts were created? Of course they do. Is there suppression of minority representation in Congress? That is the 64 dollar question that is being asked, but I think probably not. We'll see.

Discussion?

Article is here.

danarhea said:

Democrats are claiming that the new districts are unconstitutional because minority districts are diluted, thus depriving them of representation, and have filed a lawsuit against Wisconsin Republicans. Here is the way I see it:

I have no love for Governor Walker and his extremist agenda, but face it. Republicans won in 2010, and to the victors belong the spoils. Unless there really IS an effort to rid the state of minority districts and representation, then Democrats should quit whining, and accept their defeat for what it is - A defeat. We will find out more about the lawsuit as it progresses through the courts. It is my opinion, however, that lawsuits have been traditionally filed by one party or the other if they did not like the way the districts were drawn up. I have a sneaking suspicion that this may be the case here too. Stay tuned. We will know more, as the lawsuit moves along. Do Democrats have a right to know the basis on which the new districts were created? Of course they do. Is there suppression of minority representation in Congress? That is the 64 dollar question that is being asked, but I think probably not. We'll see.

Discussion?

Article is here.

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It wouldn't surprise me a bit if they were trying to break up concentrated black districts, but not because they're racists. They would do it because blacks tend to vote Democratic and they're trying to minimize Democratic representation.

IMO redistricting by both parties is absurd. This is something that should be done by bipartisan, independent commissions.

What is a “minority district”?

If it has anything to do with race, who are the racists who profile people to determine such things now that profiling is a racist action?

GPS_Flex said:

What is a “minority district”?

If it has anything to do with race, who are the racists who profile people to determine such things now that profiling is a racist action?

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In a word, demographers. And frankly, that has jack to do with profiling, which in and of itself is not racist. Depends on what kind of profiling you're doing.

I don't know much about the Wisconsin situation, but in Texas they definitely have been trying to dilute the hispanic vote. Texas got three new seats in the house of representatives- exclusively because of the rapid growth the hispanic population there, but the way they redrew the map, instead of giving hispanic voters the three new districts they actually took one away from hispanics. The problem the Texas GOP is facing is that where they traditionally had decent support from hispanic voters, over the last couple years they've managed to totally alienate them. Now they're facing potentially even losing control of the state legislature because of it over the next 10 or so years. So, they're desperate to dilute the hispanic voters as much as possible and they're really going overboard with it.

IMO the voting rights act isn't quite the right solution, but the alternative of just leaving it completely up to the parties is a non-starter. They need some check on them. Otherwise you can actually rig it so that only 26% of the population of the state can control the majority of the legislature. That's no good. AdamT is right that ultimately we need to find a non-partisan way to do this. A computer program or an independent body. Until then though, the VRA is one of the precious few things that at least keeps both parties from going all out. An interesting fact is that the VRA is actually used against Democrats just as much as Republicans. For example, if you have one district that is 60% black and one that is 0% black, and 30% of white voters vote Republican, the Democrats would prefer to split the black voters up half and half between the two districts so the black voters would tip both scales for the democrats, but the VRA prevents that, so the Republicans use it too. Overall it really just acts as brakes on the gerrymandering process for both parties. It does it in an awkward, imperfect way, but it's still better than nothing.

danarhea said:

Discussion?

Article is here.

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Districts should not have **** to do with race, party affiliation, or any other group.The only thing a redistricting process should involve is population and nothing more.A computer should draw the redistricting lines.The democrats whining that there might be minority suppression is just a ploy to weasel in districts that might be straight democrat voters.They are no better than the republicans who are trying to redistrict it so that only republicans can win.

Yes, as you noted, if there is a chance they'll win, they file suit. Both sides do it. So what? If they win, they win, if they don't, they don't. The courts will settle it.

jamesrage said:

Districts should not have **** to do with race, party affiliation, or any other group.The only thing a redistricting process should involve is population and nothing more.A computer should draw the redistricting lines.The democrats whining that there might be minority suppression is just a ploy to weasel in districts that might be straight democrat voters.They are no better than the republicans who are trying to redistrict it so that only republicans can win.

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No, it's about the fact that the Voting Rights Act has a role in redistricting. Both parties are simply trying to get the best they can using that law. And that law involves race, of course.

AdamT said:

It wouldn't surprise me a bit if they were trying to break up concentrated black districts, but not because they're racists. They would do it because blacks tend to vote Democratic and they're trying to minimize Democratic representation.

IMO redistricting by both parties is absurd. This is something that should be done by bipartisan, independent commissions.

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Virginia

We have plenty of districts gerimandered for a black representative.

Stop redistricting altogether. K.I.S.S

Zombie » The Top Ten Most Gerrymandered Congressional Districts in the United States

Take a look at these humdingers.

GPS_Flex said:

What is a “minority district”?

If it has anything to do with race, who are the racists who profile people to determine such things now that profiling is a racist action?

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Sometimes you have to create a black (or other minority) -majority district just to prevent discrimination against them.

The reason for that is that when you draw districts, you might end up making them a minority in every single district, thinning them out so they can't join together to have any power. States often did this on purpose for that reason. The only way to fix it in a district system is to pack minorities in the same district so they can concentrate their votes. That's the nature of a district system. And sometimes that means drawing some weird gerrymandered districts.

misterman said:

No, it's about the fact that the Voting Rights Act has a role in redistricting. Both parties are simply trying to get the best they can using that law. And that law involves race, of course.

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It has nothing to do with the Voting Rights act. It has to do with the fact both parties are trying to rig the districts in their favor.This practice should be stopped. Only a piece of **** racist and other race parasites think race should have anything to do with the voting process,

jamesrage said:

It has nothing to do with the Voting Rights act.

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From the article cited in the OP:

"The Democratic group sued even before the maps were unveiled. The group argues that the boundaries violate the federal Voting Rights Act..."

It has to do with the fact both parties are trying to rig the districts in their favor.

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Duh - in the context, and under the governance, of the Voting Rights Act.

misterman said:

From the article cited in the OP:

"The Democratic group sued even before the maps were unveiled. The group argues that the boundaries violate the federal Voting Rights Act..."



Duh - in the context, and under the governance, of the Voting Rights Act.

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Which would only apply if one first assumes that all races vote in the exact same manner.

danarhea said:

Republicans won in 2010, and to the victors belong the spoils.

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No, and more no. We are talking about a basic part of democracy, that is being skewed by both parties (mostly GOP at the moment) to gain a political foothold for generations.

Districts should be about population size and nothing else. There should be no "safe" seats for either party and screw minority districts, it is disgustingly undemocratic to make districts based on race.

This is no different that what is going on in Hungary, where the right wing government has done exactly the same but at a constitutional level to make sure that they never will loose power. The sad irony is that we talk about the break up of the EU or Eurozone and Germany leaving.. the reality is that Hungary are on the verge of being kicked out of most democratic organisations because of the right wing governments actions.