Supreme Court Orders Review of North Carolina Redistricting

Supreme Court Orders Review of North Carolina Redistricting - ABC News

The Supreme Court on Monday threw out a North Carolina court ruling that upheld Republican-drawn electoral districts for state and congressional lawmakers.The justices ordered the state Supreme Court to consider anew whether the North Carolina legislature relied too heavily on race when it redrew voting districts following the 2010 census.
The high court issued a similar ruling last month involving a complaint from black Alabama Democrats that the Republican-dominated legislature illegally packed black voters into too few voting districts. ...
Election and civil rights advocacy groups and Democratic voters in North Carolina sued over the maps and argued that lawmakers created oddly shaped districts to create clusters of Democratic-leaning black voters. The redrawing of the map had the effect of benefiting Republicans elsewhere in the state. Republicans said the districts were lawful and designed to protect the state from legal claims under the federal Voting Rights Act. ...

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let's see if this is the beginning of the end of gerrymandering for partisan advantage

justabubba said:

Supreme Court Orders Review of North Carolina Redistricting - ABC News


let's see if this is the beginning of the end of gerrymandering for partisan advantage

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:lol: No. Sadly, no. If anything, the ruling here is not that there was gerrymandering, but that it was done in the wrong way.

justabubba said:

Supreme Court Orders Review of North Carolina Redistricting - ABC News


let's see if this is the beginning of the end of gerrymandering for partisan advantage

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We should chose a more deterministic approach to districting. Something like by alphabet or shoe size.

Arizona has it's own redistricting case before the SC as well.

Supreme Court's Upcoming Redistricting Decision Could Upend Many Other Election Laws

The elephant in the room here is we have a big problem with how far we have gone with redistricting in conjunction with whatever census tells us, and worse just about every State has their own standard for creating Congressional districts. Just complying with Federal requirements is part of the concern, but now we have consorted effort to ensure partisan advantage going all the way down to the community level within one or more districts to ensure incumbent / party protections. We clearly see in Alabama where they packed minorities into too few districts, and it appears North Carolina took a similar stance. It is obvious that in both cases these States were adding to districts where minorities already controlled the outcome, moving people out of districts where these voters made it too close going up against Republicans.

It was really only a matter of time before this all ended up back in front of the Supreme Court to figure out.

cpwill said:

:lol: No. Sadly, no. If anything, the ruling here is not that there was gerrymandering, but that it was done in the wrong way.

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Pretty much this. And I do not think SCOTUS could even call gerrymandering in itself unconstitutional. Until the states decide to stop it(and they will not, both parties love it), it is going to persist. Wonder if it could be done with ballot initiatives?

Redress said:

Pretty much this. And I do not think SCOTUS could even call gerrymandering in itself unconstitutional. Until the states decide to stop it(and they will not, both parties love it), it is going to persist. Wonder if it could be done with ballot initiatives?

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Tough to do. You are basically asking for the dominant political lean of the individual state to vote to give up their own superior position.

cpwill said:

Tough to do. You are basically asking for the dominant political lean of the individual state to vote to give up their own superior position.

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That is why I thought ballot initiative. Kinda bypasses the parties, though they would still fight it hard. Unfortunately you are probably right.