,
7 tweets,
3 min read
Read on Twitter
Amazing! North Carolina Republican Senator Phil Berger, President Pro Tempore of the Senate, issued a press release that is all about my tweet. This is a dream come true.
North Carolina Republicans are extremely upset that anyone would impugn their integrity by accusing them of partisan gerrymandering.
I stand by my response, contained in this thread. But I would like to point out one thing about the press release...
(Corrected for typo) Berger says Republicans' remedial map was based on a plan "developed by the plaintiffs' mapmaker in Common Cause v. Lewis and used by the court as a model of nonpartisanship."
That is simply false, for the reasons I explained here. slate.com/news-and-polit…
That is simply false, for the reasons I explained here. slate.com/news-and-polit…
The new maps are based on simulations run by Jowei Chen, the plaintiffs' expert. Chen's simulated maps incorporated nonpartisan redistricting criteria. 1,000 out of 1,000 maps produced more seats for Democrats. This exercise proved that partisanship infects the current maps.
The big lie is that Chen's maps were "used by the court as a model of nonpartisanship." They were not. They were used to illustrate just how extreme the gerrymander was. They were never intended to form the basis of new maps. slate.com/news-and-polit…
This exercise—freaking out about my tweet—is performative outrage to create the impression that the remedial mapmaking process was not infected by partisan bias. But the whole process has been hinky from the start. I expect the court to reject the remedial maps.
