TODAY: Supreme Court Hears Gerrymandering Cases

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.