Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/06/27/partisan-gerrymandering-upheld.html
Political gerrymandering not an issue for the courts, SCOTUS rules 5-4.
7 Likes
Hey all you “Hillary is just as bad” rubes: Here’s another SCOTUS ruling on you.
59 Likes
Unfortunately the ruling is probably right though with the mindset that the states should be controlling their own voting districts. It ends up meaning that local elections are more important than national ones for that reasoning.
15 Likes
7 Likes
Working as intended… by the GOP. We are in for the most fun ride.
18 Likes
Anyone in the GOP who was wavering about supporting Biff just got a reminder of why they should continue to endorse him. If the SCOTUS upholds anti-choice legislation, too, he’s delivered for their Xtianist marks as well.
22 Likes
When Ruth passes it’s game over.
11 Likes
This is how the GOP stages a coup. Slowly but surely, chipping away at democracy wherever they have some power, and leveraging that to the next step. Handmaid’s Tale coming true. This is seriously scary sh*t.
25 Likes
She’s not going to hang on through another four years, either. It would be unfair of us to expect any more of her in that regard. Basically, if Il Douche gets another term and the Senate remains a GOP majority it’s the end of the independent judiciary in the U.S.
32 Likes
Unfortunately the right realized this a long time ago and focused on controlling local governments as a stepping stone to state and then federal control. Dems were stuck in denial over “smaller” elections being seen as unimportant and focusing on the house, senate and presidential races. It is not unfixable, but requires a change in mindset. There are no unimportant elections. We need to contest every city council, town selectman, dogcatcher and sheriff. It is a long haul, but it took a long time for the right to get where it is, it will take a while to root it out. But it needs to start now.
38 Likes
I don’t think that’s going to change anytime soon. Most states are red, even if most voters are blue, and the purpose of the senate is to make sure all states are represented equally despite their populations. So, Wyoming and Alaska with small red populations are considered equal to California and New York with their large blue populations.
8 Likes
But that is the problem Republicans are solving isn’t it?
6 Likes
Honestly, it might be too late. The GOP has been running its wingnut farm teams for decades now, while the DNC establishment is still winging it and counting mainly on rock-star charisma when it comes to identifying and fostering leaders. A fire got lit under their complacent arses enough to pay off in the House in 2018, but cracking the Senate is going to be a tougher slog and if they go for a business-as-usual presidential ticket in 2020 I’ll be taking it as a signal to put the next step of my extended vacation plans into motion.
25 Likes
Yes. One situation where the perfect is the enemy of the good.
As usual, Kagan nails it:
Is it conceivable that someday voters will be able to break out of that prefabricated box? Sure. But everything possible has been done to make that hard. To create a world in which power does not flow from the people because they do not choose their governors.
Of all times to abandon the Court’s duty to declare the law, this was not the one. The practices challenged in these cases imperil our system of government. Part of the Court’s role in that system is to defend its foundations. None is more important than free and fair elections. With respect but deep sadness, I dissent.
Republicans keep doing everything they can to disenfranchise voters. Elsewhere, they’re attacking registration initiatives, voter drives, and sufficient polling places that might allow allow minorities too much of a voice. When that’s not enough, they seek to directly strip elected Democrats (e.g., Kansas governor) of power. Obviously, and directly on point here, they blocked President Obama from filling a Supreme Court vacancy with Judge Garland. They don’t respect anything but power and they don’t play by any rules. It is supremely unhelpful to pretend that both parties are within the same order of magnitude of badness.
29 Likes
I appreciate your optimism. It would take a long time to root it out, provided the rules aren’t changed. But the rules are changing. So it will also require adapting to the changes, and staying focused. Two things that entrenched Dems seem to lack for the most part. The Dems are playing checkers, and the GOP is playing Calvinball.
13 Likes
2 Likes
And the next step is that when demographic factors get to the point that the GOP might lose the senate, they will subdivide red states to maintain their majority. East an West Montanna, anyone? The state of Klondike, anyone?
13 Likes
33 Likes
Of course, if any blue state worked out a way to permanently disenfranchise Republicans, the Supreme Court would find a reason to rule against that.
(Blue states should do it anyway. Definitely send only one voting machine to red counties and then say everyone voted for Democrats.)
5 Likes
