Politico reports:
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in two cases that will test the constitutionality of partisan gerrymandering — the practice of drawing voting districts to favor a particular political party or group.
The congressional map being challenged in Maryland helped Democrats unseat a 20-year Republican incumbent by adding thousands of Democratic voters in the Washington, D.C. suburbs to his district. The second map, in North Carolina, allowed Republicans to win ten of the state’s 13 congressional districts for the last four elections, even when they have won just over half of the statewide vote.
The court has issued multiple rulings on gerrymandering in the past, most recently in 2018, but it has shied away from defining a clear standard for when courts should intervene and force lawmakers to redraw districts shaped with partisan goals in mind.
Today, the Supreme Court is taking up the issue of gerrymandering.
“Redistricting reform is an issue that should be beyond right and left. It’s about right and wrong,” @JohnAvlon says in this morning’s #RealityCheck. https://t.co/uRkGn0XqOn pic.twitter.com/EuuyaMSEnr
— CNN (@CNN) March 26, 2019
With Kavanaugh, conservatives may now have the votes on the Supreme Court to insulate partisan gerrymandering from constitutional challenges. Arguments start at 10. https://t.co/vbJgcHRHW5
— Greg Stohr (@GregStohr) March 26, 2019
Follow us today at 9:30am ET — we’ll be livetweeting our #SCOTUS rally for #FairMaps to end gerrymandering! pic.twitter.com/78evZuXeOW
— Common Cause (@CommonCause) March 26, 2019
The Supreme Court on Tuesday will not have to debate whether a group of North Carolina politicians deliberately redrew election maps to give their party the maximum partisan advantage.
The state’s Republican leaders admitted to doing exactly that. https://t.co/XO7UqPoqF9
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) March 26, 2019