In a surprise to virtually no one, three federal judges have ruled that North Carolina’s congressional districts were unconstitutionally gerrymandered in favor of Republicans. It’s been an open secret for years that North Carolina legislators created the current districts to benefit Republicans.
“I think electing Republicans is better than electing Democrats,” said Rep. David Lewis, a Republican member of the North Carolina General Assembly, addressing fellow legislators when they passed the plan in 2016. “So I drew this map to help foster what I think is better for the country.”
He added: “I propose that we draw the maps to give a partisan advantage to 10 Republicans and three Democrats because I do not believe it’s possible to draw a map with 11 Republicans and two Democrats.”
When voters went to the polls that fall, the 10-3 outcome was exactly as Lewis had predicted, even though Republican candidates won just 53 percent of the statewide vote.
What happens next is unclear. It’s possible the case gets sent to the Supreme Court for an emergency review. There’s even talk of postponing the 2018 midterms in order to redraw new districts. This case will most likely have national implications.
The GOP in NC has been living on borrowed time for awhile now. This was bound to catch up to them. I personally hope they go down in flames. Good riddance.
While gerrymandering is wrong, I will stop prior to an expression of moral outrage.
Simply put. Each political party (well before either of the current political parties even existed) have gerrymandered whenever it has been possible for them to do so. BOTH parties still do, Democrats are not even close to being innocent. Gerrymanders of one degree or another exist in Massachusetts, New York, Illinois and anywhere else Democrats have total control.
Politicians seek power. Any action that increases their power is a natural and logical step to take, including gerrymandering.
Only when they are on the losing end does their moral outrage suddenly develop. If the situation was reversed and it was possible for them to do so, Democrats would have drawn a 10-3 map in their favor in a heartbeat.
The reason that Republican gerrymanders seem more impressive then Democratic gerrymanders is that demographics make it possible. Democrats tend to cluster tightly in cities, blacks tend to cluster in regions, while Republicans are more evenly spread. It is not that Democrats wouldn’t WANT to draw an extreme map, it is simply that they CAN’T.
The axiom is that Republicans and Democrats alike are without principle and honor-less on this issue. They seek power by any means and would slit each others throats to gain power.
In the long term, the problem can only be solved institutionally, by taking gerrymandering away from partisan legislatures and placing it in bipartisan commissions with super-majority requirements, which would prevent either party from controlling the process and ensuring an equitable result.
I don’t think that’s an option. If the new districts are ruled unconstitutional and there is not suffecient time to redraw to get ballots out by the legal deadline to get them overseas, then two options:
Revert to the previous district bounries, or use the current ones and re-draw after the electon. Postponing the election is not an option.
As the article explains the R base is spread out while the D base is central to the urban demographic. The same argument could be made in every state.
In these cases both legislative bodies followed the rules and were usurped by activist courts. This is how we are being ruled now…By judges, not the vote or legislature.
Come on man. It’s not the fault of the people who do wrong. It’s the people that catch them that are at fault. Like police and detectives and investigators and juries and judges.
If you want to pursue this boundary bias with equal fervor on both sides they will never get drawn. This is why the legislature needs to follow the established procedures and the courts need to let them do so unless there is a more compelling issue than inherent bias, which is all we have here.
The North Carolina Republican supermajority asked where all the blacks live in North Carolina. They then packed them into as few districts as possible so they could win all the other districts. None of this stuff should be new to you.
Now I will say your activist judges comment is a big old giant red flag that you’re a huge Fox News consumer.
People and demographics are all clustered. There is no way to draw boundaries that could not be challenged. The proper thing to do is follow the rules, not have judges draw them as they see fit years later.
The bigger problem here is timing…as in atrocious timing. Judges don’t care…make it happen or go to jail.
