USSC rejects a state's abilities to change election law with no court oversight.

[Subduction Zone]

That's not always true and sometimes it's done to give marginalized communities a voice without having it drown out byaa majority group (such as funny looking district shapes that keep a black or Latino votes together).

That can happen too. But that can also be an excuse of one trying to consolidate power. From a Republican viewpoint it is far better to sacrifice a district that reaps a 90% Democratic vote and have its four or five surrounding counties vote just barely Republican. By forming districts so that they are very strongly Democratic or rather weakly Republican increases the percentage of Republican seats from that state.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

That can happen too. But that can also be an excuse of one trying to consolidate power. From a Republican viewpoint it is far better to sacrifice a district that reaps a 90% Democratic vote and have its four or five surrounding counties vote just barely Republican. By forming districts so that they are very strongly Democratic or rather weakly Republican increases the percentage of Republican seats from that state.

That's what people tend to think of when they hear gerrymander, but it's important to realize that isn't always the case. Especially from group who breaks out the torches and pitchforks to go after gerrymandering. There are gerrymandered districts to give power to minorities and marginalized groups and those need to be preserved and the crusades against gerrymandering need put on time out to revise the plans so the baby doesn't get thrown out with the bathwater.

 

[wellwisher]

Finally what sounds like a good decision by the USSC. No links yet.

The term gerrymandering was named after an original founding father of the US Constitution; Eldridge Gerry. He was Governor of Massachusetts, in the early 1800's and would become, Vice President to James Madison. He is remembered for structuring a voter district around Boston that looked like a salamander. He opposed political parties but had enduring friends on both sides of the political isle; Federalist and Democrat-Republican Parties.

To this day the two parties that spawned from the once united Democrat-Republican Party, gerrymander. This court decision will have an impact on both parties, even though the court case was brought against the Republicans. If that case had been settled before COVID, the Democrat Party and President Biden may not have been able to change voter rules, ignoring swing state Constitutions, without the Courts hearing the case.

 

[metis]

Due to a public referendum here in Michigan, gerrymandering is being largely negated by mandating basic geometric lines be drawn versus having districts sometimes look like they're an octopus on LSD.

 

[Subduction Zone]

The term gerrymandering was named after an original founding father of the US Constitution; Eldridge Gerry. He was Governor of Massachusetts, in the early 1800's and would become, Vice President to James Madison. He is remembered for structuring a voter district around Boston that looked like a salamander. He opposed political parties but had enduring friends on both sides of the political isle; Federalist and Democrat-Republican Parties.

To this day the two parties that spawned from the once united Democrat-Republican Party, gerrymander. This court decision will have an impact on both parties, even though the court case was brought against the Republicans. If that case had been settled before COVID, the Democrat Party and President Biden may not have been able to change voter rules, ignoring swing state Constitutions, without the Courts hearing the case.

That could be. Though that might be a rather liberal interpretation of the ruling. In general courts almost always favor laws that make voting easier, which is what the Democrats aimed for. Higher voter participation tends to be good for their party. At least recently. And I did point out that Democrats had been also guilty of gerrymandering in the past. Right now it appears to be more of a Republican issue than that of a Democratic one. And I was pleasantly surprised that the pattern of the number of Representatives is now and has been for the last two elections at least, largely representative of the general vote. I have heard quite often that the Republicans were overrepresented in the House, but it appears that it is awfully close to spot on.