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The New Trove of Secret Gerrymandering Files Will Be a Nightmare for the GOP
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/05/thomas-hofeller-secret-gerrymandering-files-north-carolina.htmlIn February, attorneys challenging North Carolina’s legislative gerrymander notified the defendants, a group of Republican leaders in the legislature, that they’d issued a subpoena. The lawyers had asked Stephanie Hofeller Lizon to provide “any storage device” containing redistricting-related documents left by her estranged father, Thomas Hofeller, a Republican consultant who specialized in gerrymandering. Republican legislators did not object, and Lizon turned over the requested materials: 18 thumb drives and four hard drives containing more than 75,000 files—many related to her father’s consulting work. The voting rights attorneys had uncovered a vast trove of information exposing the inner workings of GOP gerrymandering across the country.
Upon learning what their opponents had obtained, attorneys for Republican lawmakers went to court to try to seize the files. But it was too late. Voting rights advocates had lawfully acquired the materials, even after having given Republicans a chance to object. And on Thursday, they dropped the first bombshell from Hofeller’s hard drives: A key portion of a 2015 memo written by Hofeller appeared in a draft Justice Department letter used to justify the Trump administration’s efforts to add a citizenship question to the census. Hofeller’s memo, which explains why the citizenship question would boost the voting power of “Republicans and non-Hispanic Whites,” indicates that administration officials lied about the reason for adding the question.
For years, Hofeller held an office at the Republican National Committee on Capitol Hill. He worked as both its official redistricting director and, later, as a paid consultant. He traveled the country to teach Republican lawmakers how to gerrymander their districts to create permanent GOP legislative majorities. (Ironically, he incorporated warnings about keeping all of this work under wraps, like “Make sure your security is real,” “Make sure your computer is in a PRIVATE location,” and “The ‘e’ in email stands for ‘eternal.’ ”) Hofeller also personally helped to draw some of the country’s most egregiously gerrymandered maps, including those in Alabama, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia. (He likely had a hand in more maps than we currently know.) But Hofeller devoted the most time to North Carolina, where he created lopsided Republican majorities in a state evenly divided between the parties.
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Repukes in most states have either attempted or actually achieved their goal of redrawing their Congressional District maps to favor the GOP/conservative candidates. It was mostly done in secret and this guy Thomas Hofeller was a major player. The plan was to defeat democracy as well as the Democratic Party by any means necessary.
These secret documents need to be exposed as soon as possible. Democracy-loving citizens of every state need to know what happened and what COULD happen if we don't remain vigilant.
From the OP:
But Hofeller was not an attorney, and the vast majority of his files are unlikely to be privileged. While Arnold & Porter and Common Cause have been, as noted, exceedingly careful not to overstep any legal bounds, they almost certainly have every right to examine Hofeller’s materials and use them in litigation. And if Strach is correct that drives encompass work “from many, many states over years and years,” progressives will have hit a gold mine. Racial gerrymandering is generally illegal, and Hofeller’s work might include smoking guns proving that maps relied on impermissible racial data. Moreover, while the U.S. Supreme Court has not yet outlawed partisan gerrymandering, state Supreme Courts, including North Carolina’s, are moving in that direction. Hofeller’s files may contain more proof that legislators drew districts along partisan lines.
In July, attorneys for Common Cause and North Carolina Republicans will face off at a trial over Hofeller’s partisan gerrymander of the state’s legislative districts. Voting rights attorneys will now likely be armed with data from Hofeller’s own hard drives, ready to pierce the secrecy of GOP redistricting. It will not be the last time the consultant’s materials are used to tear down the gerrymanders he spent his life perfecting.
In July, attorneys for Common Cause and North Carolina Republicans will face off at a trial over Hofeller’s partisan gerrymander of the state’s legislative districts. Voting rights attorneys will now likely be armed with data from Hofeller’s own hard drives, ready to pierce the secrecy of GOP redistricting. It will not be the last time the consultant’s materials are used to tear down the gerrymanders he spent his life perfecting.
GREAT news. Shout out to the attorneys from NC who challenged the gerrymandering.
Pennsylvania succeeded in striking down the GOP-gerrymandered map last year, and the fight went all the way to SCOTUS. Long story short: SCOTUS refused to hear the case because they agreed with the PA Supreme Court's ruling that the map needed to be redrawn. (They saw the GOP's appeal was using delaying tactics.) Every state's case is slightly different but Pennsylvania was successful, and the map was redrawn in time for our November 2018 election.
