The Supreme Court case on gerrymandering is a disaster

[StarfishSaver]

The Court just ruled federal courts have no role in second-guessing "partisan gerrymandering" - so legislatures can use as many racist and discriminatory standards for redistricting it wants as long as they claim it's "political."

[montanacowboy]

1. Not Political?

bullshit
John Roberts the decider with his other 4 asshole members to fuck the country over and over again

[pangaia]

9. citizens united and this. when the REAL chips are down-- fuck john roberts

[uponit7771]

58. +1, they had ... NO ... problem deciding Bush V Gore and stopping the recount in Florida !!!

[StarfishSaver]

69. They had no problem striking down Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act

[The_Counsel]

87. ...and They Knew They Wrong in Doing So.

That's why they sneaked in the caveat at the end stating that the decision could not be used as a precedent later. Some shady shit went down on 12/13/2000...

[ChiTownDenny]

63. We need to win the Presidency

and then have that President add two more seats to SCOTUS.

[kag]

82. THIS! YES!

That is what needs to happen. And if we can get Turtle out of the way, that would be even better.

On edit: Actually, we should impeach Kavanaugh for lying to Congress...twice.

[StarfishSaver]

90. Both and

We also need to be changing the US Senate and statehouses. Without a Democratic Senate majority, presidential appointments are much harder.

[onetexan]

92. +1 -K&R

[PoliticAverse]

2. Big loss for opponents of gerrymandering, unfortunately. n/t

[Eliot Rosewater]

5. Big loss for people who love Democracy, you mean.

[iluvtennis]

44. +++ agree

[pazzyanne]

67. Absolutely agree!!!

I have not been this disgusted since Citizens United was passed! The day that was announced I heard in on my car radio driving home after work. I practically drove in the ditch with my mouth hanging open!!!

[SlogginThroughIt]

93. Strange reply

[Eliot Rosewater]

3. This is what happens when people WHINE about our prez candidate

This is fucking huge and we are in BIG trouble now that this CRIME is no longer a crime

[StarfishSaver]

7. Yes

And what happens when people don't vote in mid-terms and pay no attention to state and local races.

[Iliyah]

4. Democrats can play that same game . . .

And it will backfire on the Republicans big time.

[StarfishSaver]

8. First, Democrats have to get control of state legislatures

[Iliyah]

10. Which is happening . . . .

[pangaia]

11. and repubs have been working on it since before 1980...

[NewJeffCT]

19. California - Devin Nunes, Kevin McCarthy, Duncan Hunter

and others...

New York - Steve King, Elise Stefanik, Chris Collins, etc

New Jersey

[StarfishSaver]

20. These aren't state legislators

[NewJeffCT]

28. Democrats in the California state legislature

have supermajorities in both houses, I believe, and Newsom is Governor

NY Democrats finally control both houses there as well as well as the statehouse.

[bigbrother05]

38. No, but CA & NY have Dem control and can affect GOP trolls now

Most GOP controlled states have already done this and SCOTUS just indicated they won't interfere.

Wonder how their GOP enablers will feel when the Dems use the same techniques to lop off some of their House seats?

Real effects could be seen in the local districts that control who goes to the state legislatures.

[watoos]

68. Yeah but,

Pennsylvania gets more Democratic votes every election but loses seats. I am screwed in my district, I have Glenn Thompson who breathes natural gas and drinks oil. There is absolutely no chance for any Democrat, no chance if Christ himself came back and ran against Thompson that Thompson would lose. That's why we have a Democratic governor, Wolf, but a Republican legislative majority because of gerrymandering. Wolf wants to install new voting machines for the election but the Republican controlled legislature is stopping it. I vote into an old machine that has no paper trail, no means for a recount. Gerrymandering is hard to overcome that's why the 2020 election is so important.

[True Blue American]

56. Yes!

[elias7]

83. Dems need to get control and pass legislation

Because who wants to play the gerrymandering game. It’s fundamentally unfair and not consistent with Dem ideals.

Need to pass something that can’t get overturned in the supreme court.

[RKP5637]

6. Yet another WTF! Absolutely stupid and incredible ruling! Day by day, the democracy gets ripped

apart more and more ... rigged!!!

[elleng]

12. Supreme Court Says Constitution Does Not Bar Partisan Gerrymandering.

'The vote in two cases was 5 to 4, with the court’s more conservative members in the majority. The court appeared to close the door on such claims.

The drafters of the Constitution, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote for the majority, understood that politics would play a role in drawing election districts when they gave the task to state legislatures. Judges, the chief justice said, are not entitled to second-guess lawmakers’ judgments.

“We conclude that partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts,” the chief justice wrote.'

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/27/us/politics/supreme-court-says-constitution-does-not-bar-partisan-gerrymandering.html?

[NewJeffCT]

13. Then it's time for California

to gerrymander Devin Nunes, Kevin McCarthy and Duncan Hunter's seats out of existence

Same with NY and Chris Collins and Steve King

[True Blue American]

16. Agree!

[Baitball Blogger]

17. The only way to turn this around.

Fight fire with fire.

[Ace Rothstein]

32. They are all gerrymandered districts because we have those states set up for maximum Dem wins.

We can probably squeeze another seat or two out of CA and NY but we really need to focus on winning legislatures in WI, MI, OH, VA and NC to unfuck those states at both the state and national levels.

[NewJeffCT]

53. Most blue states like CA

have a non partisan panel of judges drawing up voting districts, so it keeps gerrymandering to a minimum. Red States typically have it done by the state legislature.

Maryland, I believe, is one of the few blue states that have it done by the state legislature.

[Ace Rothstein]

54. Illinois is done by state legislature.

We're pretty well gerrymandered in our favor. It is the purple states we need to work on where we got crushed in 2010.

[Takket]

64. You can simply draw a box that encompasses every R voter in the state

SCOTUS says it is perfectly fine.

[uponit7771]

41. +1, its also time for California to demand representative electoral votes.

[True Blue American]

14. Thank goodness

Ohio voters have already voted on a committee overwhelmingly, but will not take place until 2021, although the Court has ordered them to come up with a new plan for this election. I guess that ruling will stand.

[Mach1miles]

21. I hope you are correct. N/t

[True Blue American]

47. The AG

Asked for a delay to the June 14th deadline so the Hudge postponed it. He will now have to rule.

The Court had ordered the chancge in gerrymandering. Not sure how he will over rule his own decision. I may be wrong.

[gopiscrap]

75. welcome to DU

[Mach1miles]

94. Thank you.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

15. A lot of heinous fuckery occurs at the state level

and it’s become apparent that more attention must be paid to state elections. Seems like people don’t know or care much about their state legislatures, but pay attention only to presidential elections every four years. If the Supreme Court is going to dump all these issues back onto the states (abortion could become another one) we’d better start getting involved at the state level because that’s where some of the worst shit originates.

[northoftheborder]

31. to #15 - you are absolute correct. We MUST strengthen our local and statewide GOTV efforts.

[treestar]

43. Exactly

The president dos not “run the country “. States have a big part in that.

[True Blue American]

48. This really is a States rights issue

Bad as we do not like it. We now must get Democrats in our State Houses.

[elleng]

57. Yes it is,

part of this/these cases came out of Maryland, giving me (and others) good representation by a Democrat, in fact Congressman Delaney's district.

[True Blue American]

60. A Court has ordered Ohio

To come up with new Districting and set June14th. As usual Yost filed an appeal. The Judge gave them more time but now this Judges ruling should stand.

Git er done, Yost!

[yardwork]

65. Absolutely correct.

[Goodheart]

18. Disgraceful.

So a blatant attempt to diminish voting power according to race is constitutional? In a pig's eye, you hacks.

[Goodheart]

25. Remember in Bush v. Gore when the Supreme Court called off the recount

on an equal protection basis? That somebody's vote in Pensacola might not have the same weight as somebody's in Tampa?

HOW IS THIS EQUAL PROTECTION, YOU FUCKING HACKS?

[StarfishSaver]

26. Yes. Court can strike down portions of the voting rights act

But can't strike down racist gerrymandering.

Link to tweet

[AJT]

22. Does that prevent the state courts from making judgments?

[zaj]

37. Well, that accelerates the problem

Over time Democratic appointed judges will rule against democratic efforts of gerrymandering, but Republican appointed judges never will.

That means over time authoritarian desires will continue to compound, and democracy will weaken. This is an accelerant to the death of democracies.

[zaj]

23. Can't they bring these cases back on racial grounds...

... and use the documents discovered recently and argue that they are clearly racism?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

24. The only silver lining I can see is that it will heighten the awareness about the importance of

local and state elections. As they said on the SCOTUS blog, the circularity is hard to break, but it often does at some point. This may make gerrymandering a campaign issue again as well.

[uponit7771]

27. Hmmm, from MSNBC it says it leaves it up to congress and federal courts have to stay out of it...

... so if dem gain ruling control of congress or state level governments they can set up the rules on political gerrymandering.

The majority basically said there's no standard the judges can go by, Kennedy is leaving the door open to a standard.

I'm looking at what MSNBC analyst is saying.

[Goodheart]

39. That won't work. Congress can't make voting laws for states, not even for presidential elections.

lThis ruling is fucked, and no amount of lipstick will make this pig attractive.

[uponit7771]

42. Can't congress make laws saying gerrymandering can't be political along with racial? tia

[True Blue American]

55. I have heard too many

Give an opinion that is not true. It is up to the States.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

29. A comment from SCOTUSblog:

As the Florida amendment on felon voting rights showed last election cycle, there is often a lot of popular support for neutral principles of voting rights, even when they are politically loaded. I would expect a lot of efforts to get anti-gerrymandering amendments on to state referendums and ballot initiatives in coming years.

[True Blue American]

52. Ohio already did

and the funny part is Republicans put the committee on the ballot because they were afraid Democrats would take over before the Census and voters went for it,overwhelmingly.

[rurallib]

30. Interesting comment from scotusblog:

Can this decision be squared with the narrative that Chief Justice Roberts is an institutionalist?
MJ

Kevin Russell
Yes -- he viewed the Court deciding political gerrymandering cases as a threat to the public's perception of the Court as an apolitical institution, since whichever side lost would suspect the Court was just favoring a political party.

ETA - seems like every "conservative" lives in a fantasy world. Roberts has used the Court to mangle the country for years, yet wants to pretend he is "apolitical"

[unblock]

36. yeah, but the supreme court was happy to decide the election in 2000....

[uponit7771]

45. IKR !?!?!

[BKDem]

33. With legal gerrymandering and a citizenship question on the census...

...this country's minority party will continue to rule us all. perhaps for generations.

[unblock]

34. here's the problem with the majority decision:

the right-wing majority on the court is trying to have it both ways.

in theory, you could say that gerrymandering for purely "political" reasons isn't unconstitutional. for example, if you gerrymandered on the basis of people who favored a manned mission to mars vs. those who didn't.

on the other hand, it is well-established that you can't gerrymander on the basis of on of things like race. that is unconstitutional.


the problem comes in when the parties themselves are hugely split on the basis of race. so gerrymandering purely based on republicans vs. democrats is inherently discriminating on the basis of race, even if the intention was to gerrymander "only" on the basis of party affiliation. fact is, it's impossible to favor republicans without favoring whites at the expense of non-whites.


i might agree with the majority decision if the parties didn't have a statistically meaningful difference based on race. but as it is, it's ignores the reality of the situation.

but i'm sure the court majority knows this full well....

[uponit7771]

46. +1, It sounds like the majority is going back to their "intentions" rulings as if intentions make

... the effects of racism OK.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

35. This is going to be one of those decisions hated by both sides.

Much like the Kelo v. City of New London eminent domain case a few years ago.

[B Stieg]

40. Fledgeling steps of a really bad court

The GOP justices sully yet another aspect of governance...

[rurallib]

59. it has been a really bad court since Roberts came on

and was pretty bad before that (Gore v. Bush eg)

[RedSpartan]

49. Elections have consequences.

Still glad you voted for Jill Stein, or stayed home in protest of Bernie not being the nominee, or didn't vote because you "just didn't like" Hillary, or because you think the parties are the same? Go to hell.

[NCjack]

50. Shocker: gerrymandering the Supreme Court produces gerrymandering state legislatures. nt

[slater71]

51. Time we start to take out the republican governors.

They are the ones who allow this to go on.

[Takket]

61. Does this effect state ballot initiatives?

Michigan passed a ballot initiative that took district drawing away from the legislature and gave it to an independent commission, I hope that will still stand!

Citizens in gerrymandered states will need to get their own ballot initiatives on the ballot like Michigan did.

[True Blue American]

62. No, States rights.

[bucolic_frolic]

66. What's the matter?

Don't you like George W. Bush's Ownership Society? They own us. They control us with money, pollute our minds with the media they own, control our bodies so we can work, make profit for, and purchase from their companies, and dictate to us their social issues. We are OWNED! Can't you taste the freedom?

[OrlandoDem2]

70. A big thanks to all the so-called progressives who complained about Hillary and stayed home in 2016.

[debsy]

71. Fuck the Supreme Court 5. We all know who they are.

Corporatists beholden to their masters to the end. They have no interest in protecting our democratic republic - only pleasing the wealthy, selfish scumbags who put them there.

[FakeNoose]

72. SCOTUS supports individual states fixing their own redistricting problems

I wouldn't call this a disaster. It just means that SCOTUS won't step in when individual states create their own problem, that state needs to fix it themselves. But the political will has to be there and let's face it, not every state has the political will.

In Pennsylvania we had a coordinated "bi-partisan" effort to overcome massive gerrymandering and it was fought through our courts successfully in 2018. But the PA GOP went whining to SCOTUS and tried to get the PA Supreme Court ruling overturned. The result was that SCOTUS refused to hear the case, and they supported the ruling of the PA Supreme Court. The PA District map got redrawn in time to make a difference in the 2018 general election.

Democrats need to organize in every state where the Repukes have been secretly redistricting, and it's been happening just about everywhere.

[asiliveandbreathe]

73. Just an FYI -

In most states, the state legislature draws the new districts, but some states have established redistricting commissions. Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, and Washington use independent commissions to draw House districts, while Hawaii and New Jersey use "politician commissions" to draw House districts.

AZ is very interesting and went to SCOTUS - prop 106....the voters were not prohibited from adopting laws governing redistricting. - Brewer tried - to no avail....

[dhol82]

74. Dreadful ruling!

I trust Mitch McConnell is proud of himself.

[gopiscrap]

76. yup

[old guy]

77. Wonderful.

Sean Duffy just got a lifetime appointment to the House.

[Dorn]

78. Look at what Michigan did and pass similar gerrymandering killers everywhere

https://votersnotpoliticians.com/

[aquamarina]

79. States can and should fix gerrymandering.

This is how California did it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Citizens_Redistricting_Commission

[Traildogbob]

81. Make it backfire

2020, if not already the only way to save democracy just got even more important. We must win everything in 2020 with massive turnout. The census is new in 2020 and if we control, then we draw OUR maps. McConnell has fucked democracy while raking in cash, he and his evil little ho. McConnell is an all out treasonous asshole. He needs to face the ultimate penalty for it. Video the event. MAGA!

[dalton99a]

80. Since it is a political process, Democrats should play the same game

And gerrymander Republicans out of existence as much as possible and wherever they can

[dlk]

84. It Will Take Congress Passing Anti-Gerrymandering Legislation

And it will take a Democratic President and Congress to pass it.

[Hassler]

85. The phrase that should always be used: political hacks in robes

[Kablooie]

86. So now Dems will have to...

Gerrymander the hell out of every jurisdiction they control if they want to remain a viable party.
SCOTUS is justifying corruption as the foundation of our nation now. You must rig the game in your own favor or you wont be able to remain in US politics.

[dalton99a]

91. "What's good for the goose is good for the gander"

should be the new standard operating procedure

[Johnny2X2X]

88. Campaign issue

Our candidates need to turn this against the GOP by coming up with a plan to undo this and restore our Democracy. The people hate Jerrymandering. Get smart and come up with a plan and make it an issue.

[Mr. Sparkle]

89. It was another 5 -4 decision. I think i can guess whom the 5 were!