Discussion: ‘The Battle Continues’: Gerrymandering Wars Go To States After SCOTUS Ruling

The inmates have taken over the asylum, with their crayons and maps…

All the more important to vote for the Dem candidates all across the Federal, state and local 2020 ballots, regardless of whether they meet any unicorn purity test, so we can finally take the Crayola’s away from the children.

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Yes, “The battle continues”. We need to focus on getting rid of McConnell and taking over the Senate, along with all our efforts to turn purple states blue. I also said to friends yesterday that right now we have to praise the FSM for giving us the bunch of incompetents and cheats that we are fighting against.

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IMHO, any state that is controlled by Dems should pass redistricting plans in December that puts all GOP incumbents in the same district – and creates a one year residency requirement to run for congress from that district.

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Because Michigan’s case sought to determine whether partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional, the lower court order was “killed" Thursday, said Common Cause President Karen Hobert Flynn, a democracy reform activist involved in the North Carolina case.

An independent citizens commission will take over the process of drawing political maps to be used in 2022 elections and into the future. It was created through an amendment to the state’s constitution passed by voters in 2018.

Voters Not Politicians was founded to end gerrymandering in Michigan by pushing the ballot initiative. Executive Director Nancy Wang said Michigan voters will have to participate in one more rigged election.

Federal judges found Michigan’s maps were more biased than almost every other state in the country, advantaging Republicans for eight years and across four separate election cycles.

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No collusion!!! No collusion!!!

It seems like only yesterday progressives were patting ourselves on the back, assured that we’d never see another GOP President

We had no plan for the future but they did

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People who didn’t vote in 2010 because of the propaganda about the ACA can pat themselves on the back with a nice long knife.

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The battles go to the states in a push for an independent commission to make the determination and not a partisan hack. I’ve already read of the math folks determining a formula that will work for fair districting–and not partisan gerrymandering from either the Republicans or the Democrats. It’s a “clean government” movement so it’s clear and straightforward and transparent and public. I’m down for all of that.

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I would seriously consider joining a blue-to-red residency move if it became a thing. Time for (some of) us to get our of our blue enclaves and take a hit for the country.

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At what point does lack of faith in the legitimacy of the court begin to affect them?

At what point does this lack of collective faith destroy the republic?

We are nearing the precipice.

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So that’s the game. That’s our mission, what we work toward.

We need to elect representatives who can meet the challenge of permanently gerrymandering the Republican Party into oblivion with the greatest determination and most creative ideas.

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An effective strategy is a statewide “clean government” movement led by the Democrats promising transparency in determination of Congressional and state districts…shades of Teddy Roosevelt in NY…grabbing one of Trump’s “heroes” for our own use.

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When Congress begins seriously floating the idea of impeaching justices. There is no mechanism short of threatening to alter the makeup of the court that can affect them. They’re unelected, appointed for life, and it’s literally the pinnacle of the legal profession. So, most incentives don’t engage with them.

Threatening to take it away might make them blink. Removing them from office would obviously work. So would diluting their votes through court-packing.

Nothing else will work, not within the law.

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The justices are not held accountable. Two of them are likely criminals and a third is illegitimate.

Democrats had better start voting their numbers, or it is over for this republic.

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How about an interstate pact to prevent gerrymandering? Something like the current national popular vote push?

I imagine it could be achieved by legislatures and implemented piecemeal: for each blue state that signs on, a similar-sized red state would do the same.

The blue states would probably have to first show their willingness to all play by Maryland-type rules. But if that’s what it takes to incentivize an agreement, I’m for it. (And, in any event, unilateral disarmament doesn’t work.)

Sad but apparently true - these guys have been playing the long game since Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House…

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A decision that will live in infamy along with Dred Scott, Plessy, Lochner and Shelby County. Along with the “justices” who voted in favor of each.

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Feels good, doesn’t it, to always have someone else to blame? Never mind that’s what the Republicans do, and what you consistently claim others do.

Unless, of course, you yourself didn’t vote in 2010. In that case, I retract.

A warning.

All the courts have to enforce their decrees is our mutual faith in their decisions. You can see that vulnerability attacked almost every day.

When court decisions defy common sense or a majority is perceived to be slighted by some inane rule, (see the electoral college in two elections since the end of the twentieth century) ridicule begins and faith declines.

In the end, our republic survives only because we have faith in our fellow citizens and institutions.

When our mutual faith is gone, our republic will be too.

The court just gave us a shove closer to the perilously near precipice.

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