At last, a panel of judges who are willing to admit if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. It is hard to equate living in a country where every vote is supposed to count and feeling the frustration of knowing your vote doesn't count because of gerrymandered districts and the Republican legislature intentionally reducing the powers of the elected Democratic governor before he takes office.
12
Every Gerrymander is politically motivated.
8
If GOP gerrymandering & voter suppression laws can be reversed, winning back the House (& impeachment) may actually happen.
12
Why is North Carolina redistricting in 2016?? Not reapportionment, so what?
5
Gerrymandering and frankly the way our electoral process has been hijacked is literally unconstitutional and yet the worst affront to our Democracy. What a complete waste of taxpayer monies and clearly intended to cause voter suppression. There is no need for these districts anymore; just name counties if we still persist in this charade of having 535 people represent 300 million people. One person, one vote! All people in this Country must be allowed to vote; it is the foundation to any democratic republic. And all money needs to be gone from politics. We, the People need to take our Country back from the Oligarchs that cheat, steal and lie with their mantra "WIN AT ALL COSTS". And now they retire enmasse, but we and history will remind them of their disgusting legacy! The Republican Party and WH Administration that destroyed Democracy in America -- put them all in JAIL! VOTE!!
20
What, gerrymandering in North Carolina? No waaaay!
2
When is a judge going to do the same for my state Maryland?
Its spider-like districts are much worse than NC.
But then it is a Democrat run state. Nevermind.
3
God forbid these people try to win with, say, good ideas. What a concept.
14
Republicans can't win by any other way than stealing elections. This isn't just one state. This is concerted effort drafted probably by the RNC to tilt power to them. Clearly republicans believe only they have the right to run the country now. And look where that's gotten us. A Russia loving republican party that will do anything to stay in power no matter how much they have to cheat and how much they must collude with Russia. Obviously someone in the republican party supplied the email info to directly target Americans. There is no way the Russians could known who to target without the help of the republican party and Jarod Kushner. They all traitors to the US. All in the name of power. How disgusting is that.
16
Gerrymandering is bad, on all sides. But those commenting on the image and screaming how ridiculous seem to have not looked at both maps, the one on the wall and the one in hand. Bot are ridiculous. Gerrymandering started a long time ago. Initially, voting maps were straightforward. Then they devolved, and part of the reason started in the 60s and 70s where the presumption was that blacks had no voice. Lines were re-drawn to enable blacks to have a say, with the presumption that they would vote Dem. Those lines are pretty wild too. Maps should be geographic and based on census, not presumed party affiliation, race, ethnicity, gender, etc. Anything else is gerrymandering. Sad to see so many here thinking gerrymandering is only done by one party.
10
Our nation's going down before our eyes unless the courts can help save us. Who knows what the Supreme Court will do on this issue, since it is repub controlled.
Most Repubs are fascists without principles, bent on destroying our nation to preserve the power and wealth of the aristocracy.
Gerrymandering is just one way.
Lying, claiming voter fraud, appealing to cultural prejudices, buying elections with corporate funded megaphones spewing the lies, and voter suppression tactics are also some of their common tactics.
I hope we regain our democracy somehow, or as a nation we're doomed. And common sense says independent commissions with the aid of computer algorithms should draw voting districts.
13
While there can be discussion about the level and effectiveness of Russian involvement in the 2016 election, there can be no discussion about the effect of gerrymandering on elections.
How can that man be smiling while looking at the map? That map ends any US pretensions to being a democratic country. That is such flagrant abuse of districting that it alone is enough to decide the case.
Gerrymandering at this level, Citizen's United, PACs, dark money, ..., US elections can now obviously be either bought or stolen. That is not democracy.
11
The shapes of several of those districts look very like salamanders.
3
This is good news in the fight to restore our democracy.
After getting rid of gerrymandering we also have overturn the outrageous Citizens United ruling.
Then it's imperative that the process of voting be made easier, and all attempts to suppress the votes of minorities or anyone else be shut down for good.
Finally, the Electoral College should be abolished.
11
I always get a kick out of stories where racists are forced to grow up.
6
Why does an article that is entirely about a court decision, not contain a link to that decision? Does the Times think that its readers are unable to read a court decision for themselves? Here is the link (that I got from the first sentence of NPR's article)- http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/document/league-women-voters-north-ca...
2
Look at that map...That is Blatant Thievery...If you had any doubt that Republicans are Crooks...You don't need to any more...
10
Proof if it was needed that the Republicans on SCOTUS acted in bad faith when they overturned the voting rights act. Justices? No. Hitmen in robes.
10
NC's map is clearly highly gerrymandered, but just striking it down does not create a better one.
A simple way to prevent partisan gerrymandering is to allow every registered voter to submit a plan, and then to pick the one that breaks the fewest counties, with the smallest sum of district perimeters as the tie-breaker.
For details, see my blogpost "Crowdsourced Resistricting," at http://blog.independent.org/2017/06/21/crowdsourced-redistricting/ .
2
Maybe Political Scientist should do that...NOT the common man..Just a thought..
2
I don't get it. Why can't they use existing county/township/district lines? That's whom they're representing, after all.
2
The original reasoning was so as to divide a state into reasonably equal population sized districts which is not always possible along historically drawn county lines. Once it was established that coney line were not sacrosanct they logically tried to gather natural groupings into a district so that the more rural towns etc. were grouped with the urban area with which they were most closely tied economically, workplace venue retail area etc. This still made some logical sense but was one more step away from the county border thing. It then just fell into political drift used as much by one party as the other.
8
Most modern countries would not dream of having a ruling political party setting up the electoral boundaries for he country , state or province. For example, in Canada there is an independent election boundaries commission who make the decision with input from the citizens who live in that region.
Talk about putting the fox in charge of the hen house.
10
The punishment for states that are convicted of gerrymandering (like NC) should be jungle primaries. Let the votes be counted by county and may the ones with the most votes in each county win. If there are two seats in one county then the top two vote getters win.
Isn't that simple? Everyone gets one vote
6
We are joyous here in Carolina! Republicans in the legislature think it's 1860, not 2017. I hope the Times reports the legislature's latest folly is redrawing the state's judicial districts for no valid reason other than to eliminate all Democratic judges. But we keep hope alive!
18
How joyful I am here in the Republic of Ireland to see this news and read your comment. The very word gerrymandering gives me the shivers as it is an indicator of such appallingly successful conniving and scheming, and to add insult to injury - not always behind the scenes. The level of hubris demonstrated by the Republicans who carried this out is deserving of this legal fall.
It's within my lifetime that there were battles here to correct this sort of egregious wrong.
Recently I was present when an American friend commented to our poet and academic President Michael D. Higgins that he wished they had one in America like him. Without a pause our President answered 'After Alabama, everything may change '. Will there yet be light in America?
8
The state GOP tactics to both gerrymander districts and suppress voter access via strict voter ID laws ( also found unconstitutional ) have been nothing short of unDemocratic and thinly veiled racism.
As a resident of North Carolina , I take extreme comfort in knowing these efforts can not run unchecked. We must be better than this.
13
I think we need to take issue with the statement "that Judge Wynn [is] an appointee of Mr. Obama’s," that "Senior Judge W. Earl Britt of the Federal District Court in Raleigh [...] was appointed by President Jimmy Carter," and that Judge William L. Osteen Jr. was "appointed by President George W. Bush." Presidents NOMINATE candidates for judgeships, while the full Senate - Democrats AND Republicans - accepts or rejects the nominees. Using the term "APPOINT" is erroneous and makes the process sound more partisan than it has been historically.
11
To me it's very simple. To even approach being democratic, no politician should even be allowed in or near the room when voting districts are drawn. For politicians to play any role, whatsoever, in "choosing their constituents" doesn't make sense, even to a little child. This should be done by demographers, based upon simple rules of access, contiguity, and the existence of community. But then, the Republican Party will surely continue its attacks on democracy with other ways to prevent the poor and minorities from voting. How about some more "voter fraud" lies, eh? Otherwise they lose.
5
Donald I assume you are aware that in most industrialized countries the decision on electoral boundaries are made by an independent election boundaries commission or similar set up. The way you set up election districts in the USA is very unique . I guess you would call it American Exceptionalism
5
Why does the Times feel the president who appointed the justices is relevant to this article? does it have evidence of partisan behavior, or is it turning everything into a D v R narrative?
3
So this morning, Trump referred to Senator Dianne Feinstein as "Sneaky". Well, Pot, meet Kettle.
6
Who districts? How to district? Rules on districts?
A good time to remember that districts are not part of the constitution - only equal representation is.
Districts was one means that the politicians chose as opposed to say, proportional representation with everyone running statewide (which would have its own issues). But the point is districts are a self-made problem that we could choose to solve - if we wanted to.
3
...bout time.
But it is difficult to visualize an intrenched political system making significant changes to an infrastructure that rewards office holders of both parties. Asking the legislature--the same people that drew the map in the first place--to draw another map is not the same as demanding change. Real change would destroy the two party system as we know it.
District drawing needs to be determined by a set of agreed upon principals that is applied nation wide. Those principals then can be translated to an algorithm. Armed with an effective algorithm, we could have district drawn by computers applying the algorithm.
3
We can still let humans draw the districts, so long as an objective algorithm is used to select the winning plan.
My proposal is to allow every registered voter to submit a plan, and then to pick the one that breaks the fewest counties, with the smallest sum of district perimeters as the tie-breaker.
The winning plan may in fact have been the product of some voter's own computer algorithm, but no one will be able to say that their pet plan was not given fair consideration.
For details, see my blogpost "Crowdsourced Resistricting," at http://blog.independent.org/2017/06/21/crowdsourced-redistricting/ .
1
Wow. After several years of down being up and no being yes, it's nice to have the obvious affirmed: gerrymandering undermines democracy.
Now let's see if we can take the next step: political opponents are not evil or demonic...
4
"Invidious partisan intent." That sums it up nicely.
The Republicans will of course push back. In the courts. And no doubt also invidiously--by creating new districts that are still prejudicial, unjust and in violation of the equal protection clause.
This article is correct. Technology can now do to voting districts what humans could not have done even with hundreds of workers over hundreds of years. With such technology, a marked minority can seize perpetual control of a state's political power.
"Invidious partisan intent." This nicely sums up the present House and Senate Republicans, as well.
10
What aren't theses districts drawn up by an independent bipartisan committee.
4
Because that would make too much sense, and take the politics out of it.
3
Check out how it is done by your neighbor to the north . Totally independent . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_district_(Canada)
2
Districts should be drawn by independent committees by strict rules that are designed to guarantee that everyone's vote is their voice.
Until Citizens United is overturned by legislation, until districts are drawn by independent entities and non-partisan guidelines, perhaps we should all register as Independent. Keep our cards close to our chest. Perhaps that way politicians, and those attempting to purchase them, will have a hard time knowning who their customers are, and will indeed need to work for all of us.
That would mean some difficulty for the state party systems where you have to be a member to participate, to determine who a candidate may be, but perhaps that's a good thing too.
"What if they had a war, but nobody came."
"What if they tried to play partisan politics, but nobody came to play."
Throughout history, and not just ours, intrigue in the halls of power has always had too much influence on the events that follow. Usually, those who can pony up the most prizes, wins.
That may be a good way to work in a feudal system, where everyday people are just so many cattle to be housed and fed so they can produce for and protect the castle, but it's no way to run a Democracy.
5
Perhaps, like with the general election, it is time to get rid of districts and electoral colleges and make the all elections by popular vote. Then, and only then will the true will of the American people be recognized.
Perhaps this is the reason the GOP fights this so much....the party philosophy reflects the will of corporations and the 1%, which is not enough to enact the policies they want so the party turns to Gerrymandering to accomplish what the people do not want.
7
This is good news. Blatant gerrymandering - regardless of which party practices it - is antithetical to what we’re supposed to be about. Although it is unlikely that we will ever eradicate the problem entirely, we must never willingly accept the existing situation as inevitable.
8
That map looks like the equivalent of "I know it when I see it" gerrymandering obscenity. I don't know what legal principle is going to come out of this as past courts have allowed at least some consideration of party demographics in drawing the district maps, but this certainly rises to the level of "I know it when I see it" jurisprudence. At this point it is just best to make it illegitimate to consider partisan demographics just as much as it is illegitimate to consider race.
6
...and now on to Pennsylvania...
3
AND Ohio!
2
Good for the courts. The concept in use since at least 1812 is a negative reflection on our democratic institution of electing. We can only hope the courts are as zealous in the cases to follow in democrat districts.
3
The Courts are our sanity currently in this “world turned upside down” aspect of Trump’s presidency. Gerrymandering has given us this corrupt Congress and White House. We must have competitive elections and the only way to get there is to stop gerrymandering.
9
This is a needed breath of fresh air from a state legislature which, apart from gerrymandering, has all but handcuffed the Democratic governor. I believe most people in this state, regardless of party affiliation, are for honor and fair play and expect lawmakers to behave better. Regrettably, we have not seen much of that here since late in Obama's second term. Fixing this problem will allow the next election to begin solving for the latter.
4
Let's hope that if this gets as far as the Supreme Court the justices don't decide along party lines, which has been happening much too much lately.
1
One big fact supports this court decision. The GOP holds 10 of 13 seats in the US House based upon voting restricted to each district. Pretty red state, right? When there is a statewide vote for governor, this supposedly red state votes for a Democrat. Perhaps our stable genius in the White House can explain this.
12
Good. No political party should be able to draw the map so that they constantly win and create a permanent political minority. Democracy demand the push and pull of agendas. Gerrymandering is evil.
12
States’ rights? Cliché excuse.
Non-partisan? Non-existant.
Politics is game in which (basically) two opponents fight dirty, neither observing any rules. Is the federal government not there to referee?
Hopefully the referee will continue to do this job, nationwide.
However, SCOTUS itself has been a most valuable political football for ages.
A highly corruptible sysrem.
3
The blue wave just got bigger...
3
The judge is a Democrat =- what do you expect. Of course he will favor Democrats not the law.
1
It was a panel of judges, not a single judge. And it was the gerrymandering that is illegal. It wasn’t a matter of favoring Democrats, it was a matter of strict adherence to law.
6
This is not a partisan issue. When a party has a smaller percentage of votes but receives many more seats there is a problem. This has been happening in many states and usually happens where republicans have gerrymandered the maps.
2
To what law are you referring Judy?
2
Excellent. This is a bit of progress. Who will produce the next - more fair - map?
2
Wisconsin's map, created with powerful mapping software (Geographic Information Systems (GIS)), is on the Supreme Court docket. GIS has been used to protect people, wildlife, water quality, firefighters..........And now, to manipulate voting districts to the benefit of Wisconsin republicans. Very important ruling...stay tuned.
9
California has set the good example. Have an independent commission draw the districts. Politically drawn districts are one half of a major problem we have in polarizing our people and our politicians.
The other half of the problem is election procedures. Here also, California has set the good example. Our primaries are free for all without regard to party affiliation. Any one can be a candidate and voters can chose whichever candidate they want regardless of party. The top two vote getters go on to the general election.
15
The republicans swept in after the 2010 census and immediately began redrawing maps in states they controlled. They've done it to the point that the 2020 census will be mute because they will still be able to control their legislatures despite the fact populations are more progressive and want different policies in place. It's been a power grab in the making which makes voting in 2018 and 2020 that much more important. Gerrymandering needs to be replaced by strict borders along township or subsection lines. Populations within boundaries just need to be reasonably close not mathematically equal.
8
For now, there's at least a chance that the Supreme Court will uphold this ruling. Kennedy, while still a hard-line conservative, may be the last best hope. If the court reverses the decision, the tenuous checks and balances in our Republic are done, and we can look forward to one-party rule for good.
3
The death of gerrymandering is foreshadowed in its computer-aided wild success. The very same algorithm tools that make partisan and racial gerrymandering an increasingly precise science are equally capable of drawing many maps, weighting diverse, legitimate representational aims, that do not produce state-wide racial or partisan inequities. The tools bring remarkable clarity to intent, because they simply and easily do what they are asked to do. It is no longer possible to pretend that one drew squirrelly district boundaries for a myriad of reasons and was surprised by a disproportionate outcome one did not seek.
9
It's time to do awaywith Congressional districts entirely. If a state has 13 districts then each party should put up a list of 13 candidates that would fill those seats. The entire state votes on those thirteen seats and the representatives are determined by the percentage of the vote that each party gets. That will end gerrymandering entirely and focus voters on a party not a candidate.
2
I disagree -- Representatives should represent their unique districts, not their party. If they happen to have a party affiliation, so be it, but the nation is excessively polarized along party lines as it is.
2
All fairness aside, the biggest problem with gerrymandering is that it creates districts where the primary is the only contest. When primaries are the election, we get more and more divided because primaries are decided by the most partisan and extreme voters--and the center is wiped out. We need the center, we don't need cruel ideologues.
10
It needs to be followed by prosecution of those who designed the partisan distorted districts, violating the 14th Amendment, and denying Americans their right to proportional representation in Congress.
9
Today, computers can create district maps that are compact rather than winding around a state like some awful cancer. We should have a law that all districts are drawn by non-partisan algorithms that emphasize compactness. Three can be presented to the legislature, and they pick one.
4
Or better, let every registered voter submit a plan, and then let a computer pick the one that is most compact.
For details, see my blogpost "Crowdsourced Resistricting," at http://blog.independent.org/2017/06/21/crowdsourced-redistricting/ .
There need to be clearer ground rules or parameters for drawing maps. First, politicians should not be the ones drawing the maps - it should be a commission or consulting firm who have been given strict parameters, and more likely than not will be randomly generated with a computer. The parameters should be more geographic and untethered to party registration, race, age, sex, etc. The only information available to the commission should be where people live and whether they are of voting age (I personally don't like the "communities of interest" standard because it is too easy to manipulate). If communities of interest need to be considered, it should be deemphasized. Once these race and party neutral statistics are fed into a computer, the computer should then try to draw the most contiguous, common nonsensical (from a shape perspective) map. I would think that the rule should be something to the effect that no part of the district can be 3 time as wide or tall as it is tall or wide. After that, inconsistencies or variations could be handled on an ad hoc basis. No more snake and salamander shaped districts.
3
No simple shape rule will be feasible or desirable in all cases.
My preference would be to allow every registered voter to submit a plan, and then to pick the one that breaks the fewest counties, with the smallest sum of district perimeters as the tie-breaker. Some of the resulting districts may be oddly shaped, if only because of the shapes of the counties themselves, but overall they will be very compact on average.
For details, see my blogpost "Crowdsourced Resistricting," at http://blog.independent.org/2017/06/21/crowdsourced-redistricting/ .
Congress and state legislatures are going to continue to have a gerrymandering problem as long as we are slavishly committed to single-member districts.
1
It's about time. Districts should be drawn on grid lines, period. No more of these gerrymandering acrobatics.
2
While the media debates the role of Russians in manipulating our elections, we need to recognize that the real culprits are the politicians who put power and partisan doctrine ahead of democratic principles. Use professionals with standard tools to establish the districts.
3
Fabulous news! Gerrymandering should be banned everywhere. Districts should be geometric shapes, preferably squares. No fiefdoms allowed. The first step to saving our imperiled democracy.
2
Gerrymandering is a cancer which, if allowed to spread unchecked, will kill American democracy. Like cancer, it is difficult to control. But to fail to attempt to eliminate it would be unthinkable.
3
Thank goodness. A very sensible decision. I believe the current perversion of the redistricting process has its roots in the past decision allowing racial gerrymandering.
3
Judge Wynn had concluded that North Carolina’s Republicans “should not be allowed to draw election districts under any circumstances under any set of rules...”
But Bush appointee, Judge Osteen, Jr wants to send the same republican wolves back into the hen house to "gerrymander" yet another republican dominant map.
2
voting rights, NC style: only voting for rightists is permitted.
any districts that lean away from Republicans deserve only 3/5 of their voters counted.
fair, right?
All you really have to do is look at North Carolina's 1st District. Gerrymandering is the only reasonable explanation.
1
In Texas,I recall Democrats going to New Mexico to protest the gerrymandering of the Republican party. Didn't work. Maybe the putting the issue in the hands of the courts is a better solution.
2
The GOP, with all its meanness and lack of viable ideas, is scared to death of fielding candidates to run in an equal playing field with Democrats. The only way Repubs can win is by rigging the system heavily in their favor.
12
I would propose that the children drawing the maps should be required to use an adult rule for cutting a pie: one child cuts the pie, the other gets to pick the piece they want to eat.
8
The census and district drawing should be non-partisan. While the republicans have been egregious in their partisan gerrymandering the democrats have also engaged in this behavior. Neither party should be permitted to pick its voters.
8
I do not know whether or where the democrats have done this - but I agree that neither should be permitted to.
It is time the federal government set up a non-partisan commission whose sole jobs, after every census, is to create all Congressional districts across the country. The states have abused this ability, fro decades, and the argument of "trampling on state's rights" will ring hollow.
If one looks at a number of state maps, a number of districts are drawn with odd shapes, not because of physical geography, but because of political/racial geography. All done by partisan means, by both political par ties.
Congressional district creation's only criteria are the number of people in each district. An independent, non-partisan federal commission will be tasked to create districts of equal population size making the districts as geographically compact as possible. And, where possible, made as square or rectangular as possible. One look at the map, in this article, shows what the court struck this down.
So, scream now about state's rights, but the states have abused this authority since the beginning of the republic. Let a federal commission made up of scholars and geographers, who have no political gain, do the jobs teh states failed to properly do.
5
In July 2016 a writer called David Daley published a book with a title that perhaps shouldn't be printed in a general-circulation newspaper. Bowldleriized: "Ratsmacked".
It covers the REDMAP project that followed the 2010 decennial census, and created these districts that concentrate urban folks in a few districts while distributing rural folks.
The republican party sowed the wind when they did this redistricting, and now they're reaping the whirlwind. They control the exec and legislative branches of the USA government, and they still can't get much done.
2
The issue of political gerrymandering is as partisan as they come. You would Democrat judges to vote no here and Republican judges to disagree. On this three judge panel, that's what happened. Democrats got a foot in the door here. And the Republicans should note that their judge only partially disagreed with the Dems. But it is too early to celebrate. This issue is going to the Supreme Court and once they rule, this opinion will have no legal effect.
1
It should be pointed that the Courts are still majority Democrat and will issue plenty of liberal opinions for now. But they are quickly going Republican, and the Supreme Court is already there. Victories like this are fleeting and do not suggest a long term shift in the views of the Courts.
2
A GOP appointee was part of the three vote decision here. This suggests that the some GOP judges aren't partisan hacks.
The GOP judge dissented in part from the decision.
Georgia's voting irregularities and voter suppression efforts need more focus. The secretary of state Brian Kemp is running for governor now. On more than one occasion he has had those registering voters arrested or charged. All have been found innocent. The system was erased accidentally or deliberately in October, about the time of the special election and the raised awareness of Russian hacking of state databases. The attorney general of the state has withdrawn from defending the secretary of state.
The integrity of Georgia's elections has been in question for awhile now. Hopefully the direction of the court decisions such as that of North Carolina will give pause to the aggressive efforts to rig the playing field.
2
Fantastic! May this be the first of many.
1
Maybe it's time the US started to learn from its northern neighbour. Here, electoral districts are drawn by independent commissions without the influence of political parties.
9
These types of maps are the dream of the republicans who fear a trend away from them to the democrats. The want to keep power at all costs including challenging the voter rights act. Keep in mind what Jessie Helms was doing years ago, it hasn’t changed this is how the republicans in North Carolina have and will continue to operate. The courts at some point have to do what the 4th Circuit did here and address the problem. A non-partisan panel of scholars and other experts may be the way to go and take the map making out of the hands of those who have a vested interest in keeping their jobs.
1
if this country want to call itself a democracy this gerrymandering madness has to be stopped. There are simple rules of minimizing geographical "abnormalities" (least circumference rules,etc.) and minimizing numbers of municipalities and counties within each district. Those rules are sensible and provide fair and reasonable allocation of legislative power relative to political support.
3
Like so many things that outraged our forebears to revolt would seem like mild indiscretions these days and if they were here would wonder at our willingness to put with so much after they fought so hard for our freedoms.
Take this map that Soucek and Jackson are gloating over. The 12th district makes the South Essex district created by the Massachusetts legislature in 1812, from which gerrymandering was coined look, almost quaint and normal.
The bizarre shapes of the 1st, 7th, 10th, and 12th alone, as well as another number of odd incursions, should be prima facie evidence of gerrymandering the rights of people away.
2
If you are in favor of inclusiveness of all voters/voices and for returning the government to the people then skip the districts and go to proportional representation. This expands on democracy and may actually drain the two-party swamp.
3
Give me a State map, a ruler and square and a demographic map and I can figure out a pretty balanced distribution in about 15 minutes.
It is sobering to reflect on this issue of gerrymandering; the term was coined back in the 1800's?? to characterize the abuse a majority party holds after the most recent census. After the 2010 census the Republicans across as many states as they were able "gerrymandered" districts to their advantage. Finally, it is 2018, that's 18 years later, this travesty of democracy is challenged in North Carolina. The slow wheels of justice. And yet, the current Supreme Court may find in the Republican's favor. Amazing. A whole generation has been hoodwinked. I cross my fingers for an end; if gerrymandering is a states' right, then this is one right I think needs to be turned over to an independent federal commission that oversees voters' rights (free speech too).
1
The UK has independent boundary commissions that draw boundaries on electoral equality, sense of community identity and sensible boundaries, using natural and identifiable boundaries, which could in the US include latitude lines. It would make much more sense than this crazy system.
1
Bravo! Gerrymandering is, in my view, one of the most harmful practices confronting the republic. While it's been around (since Governor Gerry, 1812), in the age of the computer it is a weapon of democratic destruction!
2
This court decision gives me hope that American democracy will prevail in the end. Now it's up to the Supreme Court. How this practice was ever legal is beyond me.
One person one vote!
This is NOT a country of two political parties, it is a country of the people. Independents should not be disenfranchised. Nor people that belong to either party.
5
Bravo for the court for recognizing political cheating of the voters when they see it.
Since gaining a majority in the state legislature in 2010 and 2012, the NC GOP has done everything it possibly could to prevent African-American voters to have a fair voice, and now it's clear it also acted to cheat Democratic voters.
The U.S. Congressional district where I live, the 11th, was once one of the most competitive districts in the country, swinging back and forth between Republican and Democratic representatives. Then it was gerrymandered, splitting liberal Asheville into two different districts. Now an ultra-conservative Florida real estate salesman, Mark Meadows, has one of the safest GOP districts in the country.
2
The most disturbing thing about this is that the GOP members seem to be admitting that districts were designed to favor their party AND they believe that it's perfectly OK to do that. In the 21st century this party had thrown out the concept of "one man one vote" and reverted to a system whereby pockets of wealthier white voters get to pick who represents them and everyone else. It has nothing to do with the fundamental of democracy. It's been decoupled from that and now it's just a mechanism to be tinkered with to get what they want. This is based on a core conservative belief, that there are just too many poor uneducated people (read as minorities) and these people are not intelligent enough to pick the best leaders.
It takes a great deal of discipline for any society to adhere to the fundamentals of democracy. The consequences of abandoning those principles are far worse in the long run than allowing less advantaged populations to influence, even in a small way, who represents their interests in congress. If you can seize power in the short run through guile then there's no need to look at the long run. But that mindset abandons the true foundation of conservative principle.
1
Cheating to win isn't winning anything. It's just cheating. No surprise that NC and soon also TX and VA will be under the scrutiny of the Supreme Court for their "extreme gerrymandering."
Like we didn't know how these southern and midwestern states managed to suddenly have so many Republicans and always and only win election by abusing the purpose of the Electoral College.
Reminder to the Republicans. The Electoral College was not instituted so that your states could "pad" electors by redistricting voting maps that increase the number of electors in your states.
The Electoral College was supposed to protect states with the smallest populations like RI, from being always outnumbered in elections.
The problem with the southern and midwestern states is their grabby ideas of power. But, they simply do not have the progressive ideology to support that and thus end up depending on Dem states north of the Mason Dixon line to support them with our tax dollars.
When it comes to gerrymandering, the Supreme Court case, Gill vs. Whitlock put TX, VA and NC all under court scrutiny for their "gaming" of the voting districts. Who overlaps Dem voters into GOP districts just to claim a bigger number of Electors when these states know they can't win elections by popular vote?
Who deletes who voting districts to make the number of Republican voters appear bigger than they actually are? Corn pone and mutton chop politicians of the slicky boy Republican persuasion, that's who.
If that district map was a jigsaw puzzle,
it would be a very challenging one.
Anyone going to such lengths to disempower
the value of one's vote must not have much faith
in their own party's ideas.
2
According to "Dark Money", the Jane Mayer book, the NC oligarch Art Pope personally drew the boundaries to bias the outcome in 2010. Those boundaries were challenged as racist before the 2016 election. So the Republicans could hold elections with those boundaries through multiple election cycles, take control of the state legislature, pass all kinds of destructive legislation like their infamous bathroom bill. When they were ordered to redraw the map, they tweaked it enough to claim it changed and to preclude the racism charges. And now they are back in court and asked to redraw the boundaries again! Why would they not just keep on tweaking? When is some judge going to put some objective standards on this? Standards should apply before the damage of an election cycle. Do the Democrats of NC have to be disenfranchised in the 2018 election too?! When will Republicans pay for these crimes? It should have more penalty to it. They have too much to gain by doing this and no costs.
2
With one federal judge putting the abolition of DACA on pause, and other federal judges invalidating the racist, partisan gerrymandering maps of North Carolina's Congressional districts, one may hope for a day or two that a few stones in the fortress of our Democracy might survive the Trump-led Republican assault. One may hope.
1
It was ruled that way because that was the express purpose of this gerrymander.
Same is true of Texas, PA, Ohio....
Without gerrymandering the House would be led by Democrats since that is who the PEOPLE chose to represent us.
Without Russia and the useless slave era relic electoral college the President would be a Democrat, because that is who the PEOPLE voted for
Without Russia tipping just enough in PA to put Toomey back in office the Senate would be 50-50.
We NEED legitimacy restored to our elections. A government without legitimacy coming from those who are governed cannot long remain a government.
1
Republicans are the enemies of democracy in North Carolina and throughout the country. The legal system is the last best hope for this once great country.
1
The ill-informed populace keeps electing corrupt politicians and keeps expecting different results. If they keep this up the courts will soon be just as corrupt as the politicians. And then their elections will be meaningless.
1
The stark reality is that all political congressional gerrymandering should be unconstitutional. A district should be drawn and set for life by the county in which it presides. No republican, democrat, or any other political party should have any right to redraw a map for their own political interests. The Supreme Court must act and rule that gerrymandering is illegal for any reason that is politically motivated. Our country is being consumed by financially driven political parties that have no interest of the people they SERVE at heart. When will this ever end? Democracy is nearly dead in our country and hardly anyone seems to care anymore. People are becoming more and more blinded to what is happening all around them...living in ignorant bliss. Wake up and open your eyes before it is too late.
64
It would be great. But you miss a very practical fact that makes that impossible. Population figures change in any distinct boundary, and the districts ares supposed to have fairly equally divided populations, in order for the representation to cover the same number of votes. This fact makes occasional redrawing of districts necessary, and opens the door to this sick abuse.
1
It can't be "set for life" because the distribution of the population changes.
1
It would be impossible to set districts for life, as they are based on population. Some states add districts while others lose them. Population centers shift, making districts under/over-represented.
However, you are obviously correct about everything else. Congressional districts should probably be drawn at the federal level, preferably by career civil servants, or even by computers,
1
I live in this state and our republican legislators keep wasting my tax money on this clearly illegal effort. The oft repeated excuse that the Democrats did it is only a steady path to the bottom of the moral barrel.
84
Good news this. Gerrymandering has harmed our democracy enough and enough is enough.
39
Unless gerrymandering is made a non-thing, this monster will eventually metastasize, invading individual dwellings, drawing a line through homes where family members fall on opposite political poles, to the point that a marital bed is bisected. If the Republican party were to figure out how to do that, it would do so without hesitation.
17
The North Carolina congressional district map is attributable to the same trio, ex-Governor Pat McCrory, State Senate Leader Phil Berger, and State House Speaker Tim Moore, who were the forces behind the voter identification bill that had discriminatory provisions that the Fourth US Circuit stated “target African Americans with almost surgical precision” and the infamous HB-2 statute on bathrooms.
43
Why is it ONLY Republican states try to FORCE voter ID on voters? Here in NJ, we go to the township clerk's office or the county seat and register to vote. You bring a document with your home address on it, your driver's license if you have one and your birth certificate. That's it.
Then, comes time for elections, you go to your local district, walk in the door, sign in and vote. No big dramas.
However, there is now one caveat all Americans should be discussing with their local and state elections commissions: How secure will the tallies be that go to the FEC when it's time to count votes?
According to several experts on computer hacking, the Russians may not be able to delete or change votes at the local level. But, they can and already have hacked into the tallies that go to the fed.
Neither Trump or the Republicans plan to do anything about Russian hacking. That puts a huge pall over whether any future US elections will be open, fair and honest.
Remember Putin's 2012 election? When Russian voters caught pollsters changing ballots, hiding them in bathrooms and shoving ballots into ballot boxes before the polls were open? Hillary and Obama's big crime according to Putin and Trump was saying publicly, "Russian voters have a right to their votes in fair elections."
1
This is great news for democracy. Republicans have had a merry time enfeebling the Republic (see:Wisconsin). The perfect is the enemy of the good, as we know. Districts for congress can be drawn by an algorithm that divides a populous state into fairly representative groups. Not perfect, just good.
And then let us look at the electoral college. The majority of voters have been disenfranchised twice since 2000. Had it been Republicans on the losing side, every one of their suborned media outlets would have been howling for elimination of the e.c. You'd hear the cry of injustice at the antarctic pole of remoteness. Apologies would be be owed to any pinnipeds made deaf.
25
Finally a voice of reason, and justice, as the republican stealing of votes by 'gerrymandering' may be coming to an end. Other than the outmoded Electoral College' insulting deciders against the popular vote (Trump's case), gerrymandering is entirely anti-democratic, a corrupt practice that allows the least representatives to have a say in the country's decisions. Given that politics is the art of the possible, gerrymandering is like 'pulling a rabbit out of a hat', an impossible feat only possible for the most credulous folks out there; for the rest, it is a corrupt practice that ought to have a jail sentence and a sizable pecuniary punishment. Good riddance, hopefully soon.
13
This practice originated in the United States...the word comes from a cartoon in which a Salamander shaped district which resulted from the Massachusettes governor (Last name Gerry) manipulating boundaries to create a sprawling district favouring his party (the Democrats, at that time). The cartoon was titled, "The Gerry-Mander". It's not often that a cartoon becomes a word--but it did that time! Many other democracies have laws which prohibit this practice, so you won't have to look far for how to prevent it from happening. If that doesn't happen, it will just be another nail in the coffin of American democracy. Between the money, lobbying and electoral manipulation and suppression, it's already in serious trouble.
56
I didn't know that. Thanks, I wondered.
Its difficult to say with any ethical certitude that political maps should be drawn by anything other than a bipartisan committee. Even if the body that is doing this important work is bipartisan minimal demographic information should be provided. It is not necessary to know race, nationality, gender, average wages etc when drawing a map.
14
And a guiding principle of all committees must be that the districts are as compact as the map would allow.
2
It seems to be working well in California after the 2010 census. BOTH political parties tried very hard to repeal it which makes me more sure than ever that the bipartisan panel is a great idea.
3
Amazing how people who like to strut and preen about the Constitution are the very ones soiling it when no one is watching. But don't worry; at the rate our judges are being replaced with radical rightwing insurgents it won't be long before the Constitution becomes totally meaningless.
31
Two unelected judges, one appointed by Obama and the other by Carter, seek to undo a political map because it favors Republicans. A map drawn up by the elected legislature as per the Constitution. If judges are going to make blatantly political decisions, then we should just elect them, and stop the pretense they are above politics.
2
Rising above politics is exactly what their rulings are about.
2
Could be, but the legislature violates the Constitution on equal protection in the way they draw the map.
2
The PEOPLE of CALIFORNIA approved its current political map and no judges upended their will. So-o-o-o, election of judges is pure deflection on this issue.
1
Mapping congressional districts is a legislature's responsibility not a partisan political power for them to abuse. They take an oath to protect the Constitution that requires equal protection. Protection from what they are doing.
24
Fifth time is a charm. Right? 2018 and the NC Congressional district map keeps changing but the good news is no one NC can figure out what Congressional district/candidate they will be voting for. The only solution to the Republican legislatures' gerrymandering and lawsuit insanity - just look for the D next to the candidate's name and vote for them. This one of the many NC lawsuits has cost tax payers over $5M! Not to be confused with the NC bathroom, Obamacare or voters' rights lawsuits just to name a few that NC taxpayers have funded during the past few years. The NC voters need relief and the only way we are going to get it is vote the NC legislature out of office in 2018.
14
If the legislative districts in No Carolina are gerrymandered, it will could be impossible to get a Democratic majority in the legislature.
This is a crucial test for American democracy. Gerrymandering is simply a more refined way to stuff the ballot box. We mock tinpot dictators who get 98% of the vote in elections, but our pols rewrite the rules to get the same effect somewhat more discreetly. It's still electoral fraud. Is it any wonder that people are cynical about elected government?
57
"Dallas Woodhouse, the executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party, criticized Judge Wynn and accused him of “waging a personal, partisan war on North Carolina Republicans.” Speaking of projection. Republicans in nearly 2/3 of the states are waging "personal, partisan war" on the citizens of the United States. They can't win with their "ideas" like tax cuts for the rich, elimination of the social contract, and racism, so they just stack the deck. It is the height of anti-Americanism.
43
All I can say is Hooray! I am a victim of this nefarious gerrymandering. I live in liberal Asheville that was split. I was moved into a new district and my representative is now Mark Meadows, he of the Freedom Caucus, as in the freedom to die because you have no health insurance. It causes me pain to even think this man represents me in Congress. May this ruling stand. North Carolina is no longer the state I thought I was moving to.
16
Repeal and Replace Mark Meadows.
3
It never was the state that you thought ou were moving to!
2
My wife and I will be moving to NC in a few months so this is great news for us and the future of our democracy.
2
What the article leaves out is that North Carolina, like most U.S. states, is comprised of mostly conservative counties with mostly liberal cities. The Democrat population is heavily clustered in the cities while the Republican voters are spread thin through the counties.
1
The photo of the NC map in front of Senators Soucek and Jackson certainly looks to have boundaries drawn in unusually contorted shapes (especially districts 1 and 12!) which the court ruled as representing "invidious partisan intent". It would have been very interesting if the NY Times authors had included some detail on what alternative maps had been considered and how each of these map choices created pros and cons for various stakeholders: Democrats, Republicans, and voters.
This article helped to highlight the North Carolina example of extreme gerrymandering, but it could've done more to educate us on the impacts of this practice and how we, as voters, can better understand if our representatives are working for us or against us in the drawing of congressional districts. Dig a little deeper NYT!
6
Besides Districts 1 and 12, Districts 2 and 10 and 3 and 7 look pretty kinky.
1
The Supreme Court (at least some members) recently expressed concern with its ability to decide gerrymandering cases because the issues are so complex. The Court daily decides all types of complicated matters but if it's having trouble perhaps it can learn from the 4th Circuit panel. All states should adopt an independent process for drawing congressional districts and that could probably be legislated by Congress if it so chose. But that would require putting their self interest to the side in favor of fair and representative elections.
111
fair, representative elections are the last thing NC Republicans want. too many black voters would have a real voice, and many Republicans would be out on their keesters.
Some states already have had that process in place. A nonpartisan committee (not of elected politicians) draws districts as it is needed after censuses. Ex California and others.....
1
The extreme of gerrymandering is even worse here in South Carolina. I certainly hope it comes to our our federal judges and meets the same outcome. The current situation is disgusting and undemocratic.
6
"Invidious partisan intent" says it all. It's an apt description of the Republican game plan to disenfranchise and intimidate voters who don't buy their mean-spirited exclusionary policies that punish the poor, minorities, immigrants, women and the sick . And it also describes the vicious partisan tax bill that favors the ultra rich, corporations, red states and punishes everyone else. The Republican Party should adopt the motto "Invidious partisan intent, it's what we do."
13
No matter how the districts are drawn, the result should be subject to a numerical test that determines 'wasted votes'. For more information, consider: https://newrepublic.com/article/118534/gerrymandering-efficiency-gap-bet...
Absolutely ridiculous map! Proof in itself it was created to favor the party in power. A bipartisan approved computer program should be able to draw a more logical map with simple boundaries consisting of the same number of districts as there are now, with equally sized populations, and regardless of political, ethnic, or whatsoever composition of the voters there.
146
A monkey could draw a fairer map! You could throw darts and draw circles around them and get a fairer map. More time and $$ is going to be wasted on an appeal of this ruling by cynical partisans whose first priority is their own career. Their tactics are positively “Putinian”. They should be ashamed!
3
Am I wrong, or do almost all of these blatant gerrymandering maps get drawn by Republicans?
8
Perhaps most but not all -- Democrats in CA were equally guiltly until voters took the decision out of partisan hands. One party asked "Do you want amateurs making this decision?" The response: YES!!! YES!!! YES!!!
2
FYI.
1812, Governor Gerry signed a bill that redistricted Massachusetts to benefit his Democratic-Republican Party. When mapped, one of the contorted districts in the Boston area was said to resemble the shape of a mythological salamander. ... Gerrymander is a portmanteau of the governor's last name and the word salamander.
Gerrymandering - Wikipedia
Gerrymandering is when a political group tries to change a voting district to create a result that helps them or hurts the group who is against them. It is named after Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814).
Gerrymandering - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
If we believed what we learned in high school, we thought that we, the people, chose our congress-persons. But no, if we continued to pay attention to the next lesson, we learned that through gerrymandering, the parties in power pick us, instead of vice versa, exactly for "political advantage."
Remember the Christian science monitor poll of a few years ago, when people were given the opportunity to rate what they held in higher regard than Congress? 67% preferred head lice. (Really. No kidding. Google it.)
In the Press release at the time, they tried to help us understand: "It's gross to have lice, but at least they can be removed in a way that, given the recent reelection rates, members of Congress evidently can't." (To their credit, Congress was held in higher regard than gonorrhea).
As much as we clearly and justifiably hate Congress and our political parties for undemocratic practices like Gerry-mandering, shouldn’t it be a little surprising that this finding in N. Carolina is “the first ruling of its kind?” Esp. since gerrymandering has been going on in some form since 1812?
I’d like to get my hopes up that our system is having a breakthrough, but I guess I’m feeling cynical. Feeling good though that we all at least know how to rid ourselves of head lice.
3
Riaxbis is correct! Horray for the Courts. Let’s get to work.
1
Good luck with that. 2 weeks to redraw the map.
There are most likely better maps already done, but because these cretins want everything their way, they've been ignored. It's 2 weeks in which the Republicans in NC will pull their usual dark of night, last minute antics to disenfranchise Democratic leaning voters... I expect some underhanded and brazen attempts to do more voter roll purging so they can maintain their hold on Raleigh.
2
Keep these SANE Judicial Rulings coming!
To counter the insanity oozing from the cruel Bleak House, where the resident rants and raves. And they sycophants sing Hosannas to their delusional, unstable false god.
1
“Politically, this gives hope to Democrats,” said J. Michael Bitzer, a professor of political science at Catawba College, which is near Charlotte.
It gives hope to democracy. Between Republican gerrymandering and the party's well documented efforts at voter suppression, it's beginning to look a lot like fascism.
69
the unanswered question of this article is about the judges. are any of this panel Republican appointees or Republican leaning? if not, this may be a symptom of a great problem.
Did you even make it through the whole article because it definitely refers to Republican leaning judge William Osteen and his stance on the issue.
2
One look at the map and I had to laugh. If that is not gerrymandering then I could not imagine what was. Glad I left NC years ago when the racism became too obvious to ignore. The GOP effort may be to benefit Republicans but bottom line it is to maintain control by "white men".
6
The Rs don't need to worry, their right wing hacks on the SCOTUS will ensure that they get to keep their gerrymandered districts.
Remember, its the right wing hacks on the SCOTUS that gave us Citizens United so that the Kochs, Adelsons, Mercers, et. al. basically pay to get politicians (who favor them) get elected. And once in office, these same politicians serve as their lapdogs. While the Dems are far from perfect, the right wing rot is systemic and under the current President, complete.
Many of these measures - gerrymandering, voter id laws, their "concern" for virtually non-existent "voter fraud" - constitute a subversion to the rule of law and to the idea that each person gets to have their vote counted the same as others. Of course, without this, and in terms of the simple vote counts, Ds have more people vote for them - just like in the Presidential election, yes Mr. President, you won the Presidency but you did NOT win the votes of the majority of your fellow citizens.
16
I'm not sure that I agree with you. I'm a Democrat, but I want to see what SCOTUS comes up with, they may surprise us.
Where's the "Like" button?
3
This week is getting interesting. And GOOD.
8
What non-Republicans have known for years: the state is run by the Good Ole' Boys. Hope this is a wave that sweeps the whole e country.
18
Isn't the term, “partisan advantage” a euphemism for "racial advantage"?
And doesn't Judge Wynn mean that racism is at the heart of gerrymandering in NC when he wrote that the criterion for mapping the state stems from "the motivation of invidious partisan intent"?
12
As I said in a previous letter to the Editor Re “Justices Take Up Gerrymandering Based on Party” (front page, June 20):
"When the voting system is so rigged as to give a minority the ability to rule over the majority, by definition we no longer have a democracy."
35
Instead of spending all of this time and money defending egregious gerrymandering practices, they should spend it on remembering who they represent and that serving the will of the people, all of them , is their purpose. Their purpose is not to maintain control and power over people for greed and opportunity provided by their position. Money has ruined our government. There has to be a fair way to determine the best maps that provide a fair and level field for the will of the people to be heard. These leaders have lost their way. It is about us, not them and their need to stay in power. Their service is supposed to be a privilege and there was a time that this was the most important motivating factor in our politics. We need to remind these politicians of that fact. VOTE and show them whose boss.
11
Stop the gerrymandering, draw unbiased lines. Stop wealthy donors’ influence in politics, repeal Citizens United. Demand respect for the rule of law and all branch of government. Restore people with government experience, not celebrity status, to the Presidency. Civil rights and human rights should come first, not wealthy interests. Those who hide their money overseas and don’t pay their fair share into the system should lose their citizenship and be deported instead.
6
Republicans are in the minority. The only way they win is some form of legal maneuvers or outright cheating. They will do anything to subvert democracy to get their way. This is a step towards correcting the problem, and reestablishing democracy. Let’s see if they can win with a grid like map of districts
11
The basic criteria for districting is compact and contiguous. Population data should be fed into a computer, stripped of any markers for gender, race, and party affiliation. Then let the computer work its magic. There might be very, very minor quibbles about the minutia of the districts, but it will be a lot better than this. It really isn't that hard. Hopefully this can be implemented asap.
And though I am a Democrat, based on my knowledge of the situation, the Maryland districts that benefit Democrats should also be struck down. This should not be a partisan issue and I can't see how anyone can justify these situations.
37
I absolutely agree. I'm also a Democrat. I don't want to see either party doing this. It needs to be fair across the board.
3
It would be interesting to see a poll of Democrats asking how many approve of gerrymandering to support their party. I'd bet the number would be low.
2
I also am a MD resident and in favor of redrawing our map. The Democratic-created map has had the result of a 7-1 split in our delegation and the 1 Republican, Andy Harris, is what you get when you play these games: a hard-right ideologue who sticks to the failing Republican agenda and still finds time to meddle in the District of Columbia's local government's workings.
He's messed with local D.C. issues from their marijuana legalization process to what constitutes a "flushable" toilet wipe (answering the call from Kimberly-Clark: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/blog/bs-md-harris-dis....
2
This must be seen as justice, even by the most partisan of partisans. The only way gerrymandering (i.e., the fixing of elections) can be corrected is, as this decision recommends, to appoint an independent expert (and councils) to undertake the redrawing of district maps. But it's pretty hard these days to find an independent—not only in North Carolina but other states as well.
1
I won't hold my breath that NC Republicans will submit a "fair" congressional map, especially since they are also working to redraw judicial maps for the state too. The court's decision jeopardizes the Republican plans to stack the deck for the upcoming elections, so I would anticipate the GOP will fight tooth and nail and hem and haw about the General Assembly's rights to draw their own boundaries. This most certainly will be appealed.
For a short term solution, the state could implement a shortest splitline election map that uses census data that divides up the state solely using population count within a geographic area. This completely takes out the political bias from the map drawing process and is quick to implement. Drawbacks are that it cuts through municipalities and towns indiscriminately, but some would say they current maps do that to a degree anyway.
More on shortest splitline in link: http://rangevoting.org/GerryExec.html
4
WOW!
If only they'd bother to look at an episode of Last Week Tonight during the summer, there was a No Carolina congressperson proudly saying just as much.
The fix is simple for Representatives in the House. Simply let everyone in a state vote for 2 or 3 candidates (depending on how many Representatives they have) and then the top 50, 100, or whatever win. This allows coalitions to form that are representative of the state population as a whole even if members of those coalitions are scattered across a state.
Regions within a state can continue to be computer drawn by software that looks only at geographic boundaries and is forbidden from seeing political affiliation.
So, let it apply to Michigan, too. Worse gerrymander than NC.
The court demanded that the Republican-dominated Legislature create a new landscape of congressional districts by Jan. 24 ?!
Why do these convicted political criminals deserve any more chances ?!
They have already rigged elections with their behavior.
The punishment should be removal of the districting process from the legislature and the political criminals, new elections and federal oversight of the corrupted state and huge monetary fines for trashing democracy.
We know Republicans can't democracy and free and fair elections.
The court should send the Republican legislature to Russia where they can enjoy all the fake democracy their unAmerican hearts desire.
The Republican Party is a disgrace to America.
145
What crimes did these "convicted political criminals" commit? Or, in your version of "democracy" is anyone who doesn't kow-tow to your radical dogmatism guilty of heresy?
Albert....the Equal Protection Clause is part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution that helps protect the one-person-one-vote principle from being diluted by the gerrymander, which allows candidates to choose their own voters instead of the the other way around.
The gerrymander is unconstitutional.
Subverting democracy and systematically rigging the voting districts for partisan gain overthrows the will of the people and the very foundation of representative government.
There are plenty of crimes there.
If you only had a moral compass.
4
Good Job, Judges, and Thank You!
Judges across America, PLEASE keep it up. You hold a BIG key to democracy and WE THE PEOPLE appreciate your help in preserving/restoring democracy in The United States of America.
25
Other judges, unfit to serve, are being placed throughout the legal system. A number of whom met with orange prior. While not illegal, you can bet they were asked to pledge loyalty to orange rather than the post. We'll see what happens.
1
If the Supremes don't fix this problem our democracy is finished. Period. End of story.
And if we don't reverse Citizens United soon it won't matter either way.
230
The map they are showing is the one the Democratic party did in NC and is where the name Gerrymandering came from. Google "North Carolina Congressional Map 2016" to see the new one and it does not look that bad to me.
We need a good, deep investigation of the Supremes. Roberts, Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch: What is the GOP hold over them? Is money involved ?
1
Regarding the 2016 maps, here's what Rep. David Lewis (R-Harnett Co.) had to say: “I acknowledge freely that this would be a political gerrymander, which is not against the law,” the lawsuit quotes Lewis as having said during redistricting hearings. “I propose that we draw the maps to give a partisan advantage to 10 Republicans and 3 Democrats, because I do not believe it’s possible to draw a map with 11 Republicans and 2 Democrats.”
1
Our democracy instructs that voting should be "Of the people..." That means the people who live in the same communities, not some tortured, manipulated octopus of a map designed for the sole purpose of subverting the collective expression of the people through the voting booth. Good for Judge Wynn, good for NC and good for the country.
75
You folks should look at the gerrymandering in Alabama. That's why Obama, Holder, and others are looking into it. The problem remains if the Russians are not kept out of our elections, the results will literally be rigged and gerrymandering or not, democrats will lose.
2
Hail Hydra!
This is encouraging to see.
Let's hope our judicial system everywhere takes note - the rule of law continues to be upheld.
39
While our judicial system is currently somewhat of a bulwark against the worst of the anti-democratic Republican outrages, it must be noted -with great concern- that the Republicans are also busy stacking our courts with sympathetic judges pipelined via the "Federalist Society" - Neil Gorsuch being the highest profile, but certainly not the only, such appointment. Among the articles available online, is this one from the New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/04/17/the-conservative-pipeline-...
I had no idea of how blatant the gerrymandering was until I saw the picture of the bizarre voting districts accompanying this article. I hope future articles will include such examples.
121
That example is what the Dems in NC did. Pleas Google North Carolina Congressional Map 2016 and you will see the new one.
@David G.: Please provide a link. I could not find anything about what Dems did in 2016. But Dem or Repub, it's still a ridiculous map, and the article states clearly that Republicans had drawn the map that is now ruled unconstitutional.
3
It will not let me add a link but I live here and the map is the old one. If you google "North Carolina Congressional Map 2016" you see the one that got rejected and it does not look that bad.
As in California, districting should be done everywhere by a commission of citizens! This is what helped return California from gridlocked to a democracy. This case is a hopeful step toward a return to democracy in America. Citizens of this country, indeed, need to unite. The future is coming. See Chapter 8 of my book Loving. :)
52
Linda Greenhouse, that amazing legal watcher who writes for this paper, recently highlighted that the judicial branches are beginning to come out and call a rose a “rose.”
Republicans had to know that continuing to dominate a representative branch of government when they are only getting 40% of the popular vote would become obvious, and the radical engineering of districts to obliterate any partisan competition would be the smoking gun that incriminates them.
I wish I could remember the recent person who said ‘if republicans can’t win the war of ideas democratically, they won’t abandon their ideas. They’ll abandon democracy.’
202
If anyone thinks this is a "rose," my dog has some small artworks for sale.
Calling the gop obsession with further enriching and giving all power to the super rich “ideas” is a misnomer.
1
At the time of the 2016 debate, according to the order, House redistricting chief Rep. David Lewis attempted to justify the criteria by saying "I think electing Republicans is better than electing Democrats. So I drew this map to help foster what I think is better for the country." http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Judges-North-Carolina-must-r...
40
The American Judicial System at work. I love this country. Now let's see if a new map can be created in fair and transparent representation of the population of North Carolina. Get to work government!
89
The better, and closer to perfect, solution is to eliminate the entire idea of districts. A state could determine the number of voters a legislator represents by dividing the number of legislators by the number of voters in the state. Then, any person receiving that many votes is a legislator representing those people who voted for him. If, as is almost certain, there are not enough candidates who receive the requisite number of votes, the top vote getters would also seats.
This has numerous benefits. First, gerrymandering is impossible as the only borders that count are those of the state, which are fixed. Second, a legislator now represents only the group of people who voted for him or her, not a population who may well include a majority of people who voted for opponents. Third, minority viewpoints, whether racial, gender, or simply political which may be geographically diverse are more likely to be able to get representation. Having a greater diversity or ideas in the legislature is likely to give new ideas a better chance.
At the heart of it, there is very little to support the idea that because a person lives next door to me, his interests and mine are best represented by the same person. Geography does not define political affiliation.
2
Sadly, our legislature has also been busy rewriting how the judicial system in NC works - rewriting election laws and districts for judges, changing the makeup of judicial committees and courts, and attacking funding every time the AG dares nudge back against an action from the legislature that he finds difficult to support constitutionally (see HB2 as a glaring example).
2
You do know the picture they are showing is what the Democratics did. Please Google "North Carolina Congressional Map 2016" to see the real map.