03/29/2018

Supreme Court Considers Limits on Gerrymandering

Litigation over partisan gerrymandering is ongoing in a number of other states

The Supreme Court of the United States heard arguments yesterday about whether a redistricting map in Maryland violates the Constitution. The case marks the second time this term that the high court has weighed the constitutionality of partisan gerrymandering, where the party in power reconfigures voting districts to give itself an advantage in future elections. In October, the justices heard arguments in a case challenging Wisconsin’s 2011 redistricting map.

It’s unclear how justices will resolve either case at this stage. The Supreme Court has never struck down a voting district as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander but such a ruling now would likely change future political elections across the country. In order to rule on either case, the court has suggested it has to find a workable standard by which to test if partisan politics has played an excessive and unconstitutional role in redistricting.

“It seems like a pretty clear violation of the Constitution in some form to have deliberate, extreme gerrymandering,” Justice Stephen Breyer said on Wednesday. “But is there a practical remedy that won’t get judges involved in dozens and dozens and dozens of very important political decisions?”

Legal analysts have suggested the court agreed to hear the Maryland case in addition to the Wisconsin case to settle the issue without appearing to side with one political party over another. The Wisconsin case involves Democrats claiming that Republicans reconfigured the state’s legislative maps to advantage Republican candidates. In the Maryland case, the maps were redrawn by Democrats in the Legislature after the 2010 census, with GOP officials claiming it cost the longtime incumbent, Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD), his seat representing Maryland’s 6^th district.

Litigation over partisan gerrymandering is ongoing in a number of other states. A federal court earlier this year voided North Carolina’s congressional map. The Supreme Court also declined to intervene earlier this year when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered the redrawing of congressional districts in the state. The new congressional map for 2018 in Pennsylvania could help Democrats pick up seats in the state and boosts their chances of winning a House majority.

This article was provided to OSAE by the Power of A and ASAE's Inroads.