Supreme Court punts on gerrymandering cases - Entrepreneur Generations

The U.S. Supreme Court punted Monday on two gerrymandering cases, instead sending both back to lower courts for further consideration on technical grounds. "The justices left the door open for future challenges to partisan gerrymanders. But as a result of Monday’s technical resolutions, both states’ maps will be intact for the 2018 elections, and the status quo remains," Robert Barnes reports for The Washington Post.

In the first case, Benisek v. Lamone, Maryland Democrats had redrawn congressional districts to try to flip two traditionally Republican districts blue back in 2011. "The difficulty with the Maryland case, the court said in the unsigned opinion, is that it concerned a request from challengers that courts step in now to keep 2018 elections from being held in districts that have been in place since 2011," Barnes reports. "There was no reason to do that before a trial has taken place." The Supreme Court voted 7-2 to send it back to a lower court; the challengers' attorney said he will try to get a trial scheduled soon so the issue might be addressed before the 2020 elections.

The second case, Gill v. Whitford, centered on the Republican-controlled Wisconsin state legislature's 2011 redrawing of congressional districts. The lower court concluded that the redrawn map favored Republicans and couldn't be explained by nonpartisan reasons. But Chief Justice John Roberts said the plaintiffs hadn't shown that they were hurt individually by the redraw, which he said was necessary before courts should intervene. Roberts wrote that the Supreme Court was unanimously sending the case back down because it lacked the jurisdiction to decide the case, but said the Wisconsin plaintiffs should have another chance to show a lower court they had been individually harmed by the redraw. He also wrote that the problem with the proposed formula is that it measures the effect gerrymandering has on political parties, not individual voters. 

Justice Elena Kagan wrote a concurring opinion in the Wisconsin case that "laid out a road map for future challenges, including under a test [Justice Anthony] Kennedy has proposed: that partisan redistricting schemes might be judged as punishment for voters because of their past political allegiances, which would violate the First Amendment," Barnes reports.

A gerrymandering case from North Carolina is still pending before the Supreme Court.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2ynCkA5 Supreme Court punts on gerrymandering cases - Entrepreneur Generations

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