THE Supreme Court will hear a case in the autumn that puts a new spin on an old scourge: partisan gerrymandering. In recent years the justices have cracked down on electoral districts drawn by politicians along racial lines. A ruling in 2015 held that Alabama had violated the 14th Amendment’s equal-protection guarantee by packing too many black voters into state electoral districts, diluting their influence in neighbouring areas. Last month, in Cooper v Harris, the court reprimanded North Carolina for doing the same in two legislative districts. But the justices have looked the other way when districts are drawn with party advantage rather than race in mind. Partisan gerrymandering may be “unsavoury”, as Justice Samuel Alito puts it, but it has not yet been held to offend against the constitution.
Gill v Whitford, one of the most important cases the justices will hear next term, calls Justice Alito’s view into question. The timing is key....Continue reading
from United States http://ift.tt/2rGmjxu
via https://ifttt.com/ IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment