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Ari Berman
@AriBerman
, 12 tweets, 5 min read Read on Twitter
Breaking: SCOTUS just ruled that extreme partisan gerrymandering is beyond reach of federal courts. 5-4 decision by Roberts. This is very bad for democracy
This is an absolutely insane opinion by Roberts, saying that no matter how extreme partisan gerrymandering is, courts can't strike them down. Will give a green light to even more extreme gerrymandering in next round of redistricting after 2020
Read Kagan's powerful dissent in partisan gerrymandering cases: "In giving such gerrymanders a pass from judicial review, the majority goes tragically wrong" supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf…
Kagan dissent: Election day is what links people to their representatives & gives people their sovereign power. That day is foundation of democratic governance. And partisan gerrymandering can make it meaningless. At its most extreme the practice amounts to “rigging elections.”
John Roberts wrote majority opinion gutting Voting Rights Act. Now he writes opinion green lighting all partisan gerrymandering no matter how extreme. This is his legacy
In state after state, GOP getting minority of votes but huge majority of seats. This is fundamentally undemocratic. Extreme partisan gerrymandering is election rigging & SCOTUS just gave it a huge green light motherjones.com/politics/2019/…
@MaddowBlog In 2018, Dem candidates for Congress in NC got 49% of votes but GOP got 75% of seats. This is the kind of extreme gerrymandering that John Roberts said courts can no longer even review
@MaddowBlog Roberts said that if courts can't strike down partisan gerrymandering, states could still adopt independent redistricting commissions

But in 2015 he said those commissions were unconstitutional

The height of hypocrisy

motherjones.com/politics/2019/…
@MaddowBlog GOP controls 16 extra House seats & 7 extra state legislative chambers because of extreme gerrymandering. SCOTUS just made this problem even worse for next decade by saying federal courts can't review these rigged maps apnews.com/9fd72a4c1c5742…
@MaddowBlog Gutting Voting Rights Act

Extreme gerrymandering

Citizens United

Strict voter ID laws

Voting purging

This is John Roberts legacy

motherjones.com/politics/2019/…
@MaddowBlog In a fair world Elena Kagan would be Chief Justice & John Roberts would be writing bitter dissents motherjones.com/politics/2019/…
@MaddowBlog SCOTUS ruling blocking federal courts from invalidating partisan gerrymandering nightmare for voting rights

But it also underscores how Dems need to focus on state races with next cycle of redistricting coming up & not just obsess over presidential race

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More from @AriBerman see all

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Ari Berman
@AriBerman
It’s not just the racist rhetoric. Trump has a new plan to exclude huge numbers of people of color from political representation through his census executive order bit.ly/2xSxSGw
Trump surrendered on census citizenship question but GOP going full stream ahead with push for racial gerrymandering on steroids to preserve conservative white power for next decade motherjones.com/politics/2019/…
Political districts have long been drawn based on total population but Trump wants to only count eligible voters. That would exclude a staggering 55% of Latinos, 45% of Asian Americans & 30% of African Americans from political representation motherjones.com/politics/2019/…
Read 4 tweets
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Ari Berman
@AriBerman
Trump backed down on census citizenship question but left door open to Republican states drawing districts based on citizenship instead of total population, which would be massive power shift to GOP motherjones.com/politics/2019/…
2 very disturbing points from Trump census presser:

Trump suggests states can exclude non-citizens from redistricting

And Barr said states could exclude undocumented immigrants from congressional apportionment

That would be huge power shift to GOP

motherjones.com/politics/2019/…
Trump said he wanted states to be able to draw districts based on "voter eligible population." That would exclude not just non-citizens, but children, disenfranchised citizens, etc, leading to huge shift from Dem to GOP areas motherjones.com/politics/2019/…
Read 3 tweets
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Ari Berman
@AriBerman
"Some states may want to draw districts based on voter eligible population," Trump says

There you have it. The goal of citizenship question all along was to draw districts to shift power to white GOP areas
Trump ordering Commerce Dept to still collect citizenship data means GOP can try to draw districts based on citizenship rather than total population in 2021. GOP gerrymandering guru said this would be “advantageous to Republicans & Non-Hispanic Whites.”

motherjones.com/politics/2019/…
Defeat of citizenship question huge victory for democracy, but major threats to fair census still include Trump's terrorizing of immigrant communities & GOP push to draw districts that solidify white power motherjones.com/politics/2018/…
Read 3 tweets

Related threads

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Phil Weiser
@pweiser
The #Gerrymandering decision from the #SupremeCourt still stings. The level of polarization in our politics and the lack of true representation in Congress (and many states) is on account of #Gerrymandering. Thread below. denverpost.com/2019/06/27/col…
In our brief, we made the case for judicial oversight of extreme partisan gerrymandering: “Deliberately drawing districts for the purpose of keeping one party in power for the long term, and without any neutral justification for the result, has no place in our political system.”
The consequences of #Gerrymandering are dire--“It discourages voter participation, increases distrust of government, and reduces the responsiveness of elected representatives.”
Read 7 tweets
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Kimberly Atkins
@KimberlyEAtkins
BREAKING: #SCOTUS rules that political gerrymandering is an issue outside the scope of judicial review. 5-4 vote. This is unlike racial gerrymandering, which the #SCOTUS has held is unconstitutional.
The case came down to what test courts could employ to decide how much partisan gerrymandering is too much. The conservative justices said there was no good test to use. Chief Justice Roberts famously called the tests preferred by the challengers “sociological gobbledygook.”
The North Carolina challenge involved GOP-drawn congressional maps. The Maryland case involved Democratic-drawn maps. Both were sent back to the lower court to be dismissed.
Read 4 tweets
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Rick Hasen
@rickhasen
5-4 vote: Supreme Court holds partisan gerrymandering cases non-justiciable, meaning federal courts cannot consider such challenges. Split along Republican/Democrat conservative/liberal lines. Exactly what we were expecting supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf…
All of this talk about Roberts being the swing vote, or worried about appearances of being political:
not on the issues he cares about the most, which are politics, race and power. See Shelby County, Citizens United, and now....Rucho.
And though it doesn't appear the Rucho dissent makes a deal of this, the majority had to overrule another precedent to hold partisan gerrymandering cases non-justiciable: Bandemer.
Read 6 tweets
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Chris Geidner
@chrisgeidner
Now, for the final #SCOTUS decisions of the term.
First #SCOTUS decision is Mitchell v. Wisconsin, with Breyer joining the more conservative justices and Gorsuch joining the more liberal justices to create a 5-4 ruling allowing a blood-draw from an unconscious driver when BAC information is sought. supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf…
Note that Gorsuch did not join his more liberal colleagues on the merits of their dissent, though. He would have just tossed the case.
Read 16 tweets
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Chris Geidner
@chrisgeidner
#SCOTUS grants 8 new cases this morning.
Still no action on the DACA cases. Here’s the full #SCOTUS orders list: supremecourt.gov/orders/courtor…
Obamacare is back at #SCOTUS:
Read 13 tweets
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Chris Geidner
@chrisgeidner
#SCOTUS opinions, up to 4, coming in moments.
Sixteen cases remain from this term, including partisan gerrymandering cases and the Census case. #SCOTUS
Justice Kavanaugh has the 7-2 opinion for the majority in Flowers v. Mississippi, siding with Flowers in his case alleging discrimination in how the jury in his murder trial was picked. supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf…
Read 9 tweets

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