NEW: House Speaker Tina Kotek is about to back down on her deal to grant Republicans parity on redistricting. She told her caucus today she'll appoint a new committee, with Dems in the majority, to pass a Congressional, plan. #orpol#orleg
push the envelope until the courts finally come down with decisions to end gerrymandering. The only way to get the current SCOTUS to rule against gerrymandering will be if it starts to look like Democrats will be able to use it to their advantage.
Currently Republican congressional members are uniformly opposed to the Democratic initiative for federal legislation that prevents gerrymandering. Their usual excuse it should be left to the states.
The Democrats should go further. Any Democratic controlled state that does not currently allow gerrymandering should rescind that and change their laws and to allow it. If the Republicans complain tell them no problem, let us pass the Federal legislation outlawing gerrymandering and every state will be on the same page.
Why be one sided where Republican states gerrymander while expecting Democratic states not to.
BREAKING: Supreme Court of North Carolina STRIKES DOWN legislative and congressional redistricting maps for unfairly benefiting Republicans, ruling that partisan gerrymandering violates the North Carolina Constitution. More information to come. https://t.co/20eQuEPVoO
Let's gerrymander away. Michelle Obama's "when they go low we go high" thing never really worked out for us, did it. Let's try: when they go low we go lower.
Supreme Court, in 5-4 Vote, Restores Alabama’s Congressional Voting Map
A special three-judge court had ordered lawmakers to redraw the lines, saying Black voters “have less opportunity” than other Alabamians to elect their favored candidates.
As I read about it, the Alabama decision could be very damaging to what's left of the Voting Rights Act. SCOTUS apparently is going to take up the case formally (this was a shadow docket decision).
As I read about it, the Alabama decision could be very damaging to what's left of the Voting Rights Act. SCOTUS apparently is going to take up the case formally (this was a shadow docket decision).
Let's face it, the GOP holds a 6-3 majority in the SCOTUS. What is the equivalent of gerrymandering for the SCOTUS? Increase the number of seats?
Well you know, she'll swing around in whatever direction the anti-Democrat wind blows. Ask her about a Republican gerrymander and watch her creak around 180 degrees. May as well ask a tumbleweed for its thoughts.
good article today explaining that the GOP left Democrats with no choice but to try to match them in the gerrymandering arms race. The Republicans had the chance to pass the Freedom To Vote Act which would have ended partisan gerrymandering last year. And of course not one Republican voted for it. Now they are whining that NY state has done what they've aggressively done the past two redistricting cycles. Boo ****ing Hoo, GOP. I suppose they thought Democrats were too spineless to join them in their game.
For Republicans to complain about partisan gerrymandering is "certainly rich," said David Daley, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan voting advocacy group FairVote and the author of "Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn't Count," who has written extensively about Republican gerrymanders. If Republicans were concerned about fair maps, he said in an interview, they should have supported the ban on partisan gerrymandering in the Democrats' Freedom to Vote Act.
also from the article, it's possible the new district map in NY is entirely legal:
"The plaintiffs in the lawsuit started out with an uphill battle and have to prove that the plan violated the state constitution beyond a reasonable doubt," he said. "And then, if they can reach that bar, they have to show the legislature acted in bad faith. So it's difficult.
"Wice noted that the state legislature can argue that it met population equality requirements and other criteria relating to keeping together "communities of interest" as justification for the partisan outcome.
Li said it will be hard to justify some of the boundaries, such as in Malliotakis' carved-up New York City district, but Democrats drew the lines knowing the criteria they needed to meet, and it's not likely a court can resolve the suit before party primaries begin in March.
good article today explaining that the GOP left Democrats with no choice but to try to match them in the gerrymandering arms race. The Republicans had the chance to pass the Freedom To Vote Act which would have ended partisan gerrymandering last year. And of course not one Republican voted for it. Now they are whining that NY state has done what they've aggressively done the past two redistricting cycles. Boo ****ing Hoo, GOP. I suppose they thought Democrats were too spineless to join them in their game.
For Republicans to complain about partisan gerrymandering is "certainly rich," said David Daley, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan voting advocacy group FairVote and the author of "Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn't Count," who has written extensively about Republican gerrymanders. If Republicans were concerned about fair maps, he said in an interview, they should have supported the ban on partisan gerrymandering in the Democrats' Freedom to Vote Act.
e.g. Even though NY lost a seat due to the census, I've read that they may be able to gerrymander 4 more Dem seats.
Do it.