Will the fate of America's democracy be decided by this US supreme court case?

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Will the fate of America's democracy be decided by this US supreme court case?
> Date: October 3, 2017 at 7:08:18 AM EDT
> To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> Reply-To: dewayne-net () warpspeed com
>
> Will the fate of America's democracy be decided by this US supreme court case?
> On Tuesday, the court will hear arguments on whether a redistricting plan in the state of Wisconsin was 
> unconstitutional. The case could transform US politics
> By Russ Feingold
> Oct 3 2017
> <https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/03/america-democracy-us-supreme-gerrymandering>
>
> On Tuesday, the US supreme court hears oral arguments in Gill v Whitford. This will open the door for a potentially 
> precedent-setting ruling on the constitutionality of partisan gerrymandering – the process of redrawing electoral 
> districts in order to favor one party over another. 
>
> The past several years have seen a new level of hyper-partisan gerrymandering that defies voters and has subverted 
> our democracy. Thus far, however, the court has refused to rule on the constitutionality of this political ploy, 
> deferring instead to the political process. 
>
> The result is a system that demands immediate course correction. While there is progress to be made at the state 
> level, in today’s political climate, the supreme court is best poised to demand the needed course correction before 
> this illegitimate political ploy further distorts our elections. 
>
> The idea of drawing district lines to benefit one party or the other is not new. However, a confluence of specific 
> events over the past decade has made gerrymandering a lethal science to our democratic legitimacy. 
>
> Those events include the 2010 Citizens United ruling that unleashed record amounts of dark money into our elections; 
> the 2013 Shelby County v Holder ruling that undid a central pillar of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and innovations in 
> computer programming.
>
> Broadly speaking, Democrats have an overwhelming advantage in terms of numbers. More voters identify as Democrats in 
> this country than as Republicans, and the margin is growing as our country becomes more diverse. 
>
> Republicans experienced this disadvantage in 2008 when President Obama was elected amid a wave of Democratic 
> victories across the country, resulting in Democratic control of the executive and legislative branches. While the 
> loss was devastating to Republicans, the timing was convenient. 
>
> Republicans understood then that they were facing a long-term, if not permanent, numerical disadvantage, and in 
> response they set out to game the system. They looked ahead to the 2010 census, knowing that district maps would be 
> re-examined with the latest census data. They seized upon this in developing a strategy to win more seats with fewer 
> votes using a toxic combination of voter suppression and gerrymandering. 
>
> In the 2010 election, Republicans targeted certain individual districts in certain states, aiming to flip state 
> legislatures. In the wake of the January 2010 Citizens United ruling, the floodgates of dark money were opened going 
> into elections that November, enabling Republicans to overwhelm strategic local races. 
>
> At the local level, a couple of hundred thousand dollars can swing an election, particularly at a time when Democrats 
> did not see the broader strategy at play and did not anticipate the financial assault on these local races. 
> Republicans gained control of a majority of state legislatures in 2010, giving them control over redistricting in 
> those states.
>
> [snip]
>
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