VOTING RIGHTS

[HairOfTheDog]

Gerrymandering is one of the biggest problems when it comes to election results which reflect the will of the people. 

I've only recently started paying any real attention to it. I take the time to listen & to read and it's friggin' outrageous the way districts can be and have been redistricted. That bullshit needs to be fixed, like yesterday. Jeez.

Some progress is being made in terms of legally addressing gerrymandering, it seems.

But, will the Supreme Court do what's right (in my view, at least) and rule it unconstitutional?  I doubt it, but hope so.

Snip:
A panel of three federal judges again declared North Carolina’s congressional district map to be unconstitutional, ruling on Monday that it was gerrymandered to unfairly favor Republican candidates.

The decision, which may have significant implications for control of Congress after the midterm elections, is likely to be appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which for the moment is evenly split on ideological lines without a ninth justice to tip the balance.

Though North Carolina’s voters tend to divide about evenly between the two parties, Republicans currently hold 10 of the state’s 13 House seats. A redrawn district map may put more of the seats within Democrats’ reach.

The ruling sets up a delicate tactical question for the Supreme Court, which has never ruled a partisan gerrymander to be unconstitutional, passing up three separate opportunities to do so in its last term. With the retirement of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy at the end of July, the court is now divided between four conservatives who have expressed skepticism about the court’s ability to tinker with political maps, and four more liberal justices who have argued that it has that ability.  A 4-to-4 vote would leave the lower court’s ruling intact.

The swing vote on the issue would probably be Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., whom many voting-rights advocates see as the only prospect on the court — and a slim one, at that — for a fifth vote to outlaw partisan gerrymanders.

Full story:  https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/27/us/no...ule=Top%20^Stories&pgtype=Homepage