The First Amendment forbids viewpoint discrimination, so when a state draws legislative district lines that minimize the power of people who belong to one political party while maximizing the power of people who hold another viewpoint, that violates the Constitution. A majority of the justices on the Supreme Court, however, have refused to police partisan gerrymandering, largely because they believe that doing so would be too difficult. As Justice Scalia wrote in his plurality opinion in Vieth v. Jubelirer, “no judicially discernible and manageable standards for adjudicating political gerrymandering claims have emerged.”
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Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Writing Contest could bring an end to Gerimandering. We can hope anyway.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/12/10/3601405/an-obscure-writing-contest-could-put-an-end-to-partisan-gerrymandering/
The First Amendment forbids viewpoint discrimination, so when a state draws legislative district lines that minimize the power of people who belong to one political party while maximizing the power of people who hold another viewpoint, that violates the Constitution. A majority of the justices on the Supreme Court, however, have refused to police partisan gerrymandering, largely because they believe that doing so would be too difficult. As Justice Scalia wrote in his plurality opinion in Vieth v. Jubelirer, “no judicially discernible and manageable standards for adjudicating political gerrymandering claims have emerged.”
Scalia’s view, however, is questionable. Mathematical models do exist
that can measure when a state’s electoral map produces results that are
wildly out of line with voter preferences.
And, in some recent gerrymandering cases, states have even openly
stated that they tried to enhance some voters’ power at the expense of
others.
The First Amendment forbids viewpoint discrimination, so when a state draws legislative district lines that minimize the power of people who belong to one political party while maximizing the power of people who hold another viewpoint, that violates the Constitution. A majority of the justices on the Supreme Court, however, have refused to police partisan gerrymandering, largely because they believe that doing so would be too difficult. As Justice Scalia wrote in his plurality opinion in Vieth v. Jubelirer, “no judicially discernible and manageable standards for adjudicating political gerrymandering claims have emerged.”
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