- A panel of federal judges struck down North Carolina’s congressional map on Tuesday, declaring it unconstitutionally gerrymandered and demanding that the Republican-controlled General Assembly redraw district lines before this year’s midterm elections.
This is a separate case than the one dealing with the Wisconsin district maps, though of a similar nature. Gill v. Whitford has been argued but a final SCOTUS ruling is pending.
Jesus. I'm anxious in the extreme because these tactical issues of restoring democracy are all on the Supreme Court's docket this last term and the next. Anxious because this is the last chance we have before the swing vote that is Kennedy retires and Trump starts nominating some more 40-year-olds to Court (let alone the score of other Article III judgeships he's already appointed). That is why I hope that among some of the standards for partisan gerrymandering advanced in Gill v Whitford, five Justices found one acceptable. Edit to add: Apparently today oral arguments were heard about the Ohio-voter-rolls-purging case.North Carolina is not only the worst state in the USA for unfair districting but the worst entity in the world ever analyzed by the Electoral Integrity Project.
Practically we need to address the institutional failures which have cost us our democratic ranking – districting, equal access to the vote and the abuse of legislative power. An independent commission is the sine-qua-non of democratic districting (no democracy in the world outside of the U.S. allows the elected politicians to draw the lines). Voter registration and poll access should make voting as easy as possible and never be skewed in favor of any one section of society. Last, elected officials need to respect the core principles of democracy – respect the will of the voters, all the voters and play the game with integrity.
That's a fun article and all, but it does matter. With this ruling also comes an ultimatum - fix it or we will. Our legislature is now required to post a fair map or risk having an outside body do it for them. This is a first of its kind ruling and a great relief to me as a city dwelling North Carolinian.