Thursday, June 27, 2019

Big court case decided 5-4

Breaking: SCOTUS Rules Partisan Gerrymanders Can’t Be Challenged In Court
In one of the major cases of this term, the Supreme Court has refused to provide a role for federal courts in deciding so-called partisan gerrymandering cases. That is, cases in which the federal courts pass judgment on the political process that gave rise to sometimes unfair districts benefiting one party or another.
It was a straight 5-4 conservative-liberal split.
The judgments of the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina and the United States District Court for the District of Maryland are vacated, and the cases are remanded with instructions to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.

I guess I spoke too soon? Just after commenting on how the Court has slipped into a hodgepodge of  Majority Minority break downs, the court falls back on the 5-4 conservative split on one of the biggest cases this session.

The folks at Legal Insurrection believe that this shuts down the District Court Judges in these sorts of cases, but I wouldn't deposit that check in the bank quite yet. The way things are going with the Obama Judges, they will work hard to get around this, possibly by citing something (other than partisanship) as their excuse to rule against Trump or the GOP.

4 comments:

Commonsense said...

It was the right decision. Redistricting is a political question within the preview of the state legislatures.

The remedy is to win state elections not go to the Federal Courts.

They will no longer be any lawsuits on gerrymandering.

anonymous said...

The right again winning the only way they can.....cheating....Why is it floriduh has 250k more registered dems and constantly has a R senate and congress? ??????

anonymous said...

Roberts describes the exact reason why courts should be involved....all they have done is kick the can down the road and left the status quo continue because it benefits the right....A real shitty decision with piss poor logic!!!!

“Excessive partisanship in districting leads to results that reasonably seem unjust,” wrote Roberts. “But the fact that such gerrymandering is incompatible with democratic principles does not mean that the solution lies with the federal judiciary.”

Commonsense said...

The can is crushed. The ruling forbids any federal lawsuit over redistricting.