The North Carolina legislature giddily passed its new congressional map Wednesday, an aggressive gerrymander that would near-automatically flip three currently Democratic seats and make a fourth a more Republican friendly tossup.
I don’t see how, in the time we have, we can - as activists - make a difference in this situation.
It’s a legal process that is driven by politics.
That will take time, likely lots of it.
One more state has been bought and paid for from the state level courts through the federal gerrymanders. On Fast Politics this morning, Norm Ornstein discussed the current state of affairs in NC and across the country, with the SCOTUS ultimately blessing any and all gerrymanders that are “political”. His conclusion was we are fucked - that is quite literally what he said. It sent a chill down my spine. Because the Republicans have given up all pretense of democracy, they are simply going to win on all of the big stuff. That plus the obsolete electoral college and multiple other outdated kinks in our system have basically doomed us to, at best, a permanent battle for the smallest of victories. As Leo and all of his secretive billionaire friends aim billions of dollars at everything from local district attorneys, attorneys general, and state courts across the land to elections in which they can continue to divide the vote amongst amoral candidates like what the “No Labels” scam is offering, we will drown in the money being thrown at all of these races.
I have tended to listen to Ornstein as somewhat of a voice of reason in my life. To hear him sound so pessimistic and embittered jerked my chain.
Yes, Ornstein, pessimistic and embittered, jerks my chain too.
Meanwhile, in WIsconsin…
The GQP will wait until Judge Janet rules in the redistricting case and THEN they will impeach her.
For this court, the only hope is an argument against North Carolina’s gerrymandering would require evidence that it reduces Black voting power. The problem with North Carolina is that for a Southern State Blacks makeup a low percentage of the population. In regard to is there a case racial gerrymandering in North Carolina’s racial makeup:
| Race and Hispanic Origin | |
|---|---|
| White alone, percent | 69.9% |
| Black or African American alone, percent(a) | 22.2% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native alone, percent(a) | 1.6% |
| Asian alone, percent(a) | 3.6% |
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, percent(a) | 0.1% |
| Two or More Races, percent | 2.6% |
| Hispanic or Latino, percent(b) | 10.5% |
| White alone, not Hispanic or Latino, percent | 61.5% |
The reason the numbers do not add to 100% is because Whites and Hispanics are counted twice. The first column is for Whites and that includes Hispanics and the last is excluding Hispanics. Likewise, Hispanics who are also Black are counted in the 2nd and 2nd to last.
In means that 40% of the state makeup is either not White or is Hispanic but only 30% is not White. White Hispanics voters are in play and not automatic when it comes to voting.
But in regard for a case on racial gerrymandering, there are 14 Congress members in the States delegation and currently 7 and 7. The new map will make it 10 Rs to 3 Ds and 1 tossup.
We need to start by stating the fact that in most cases there is no difference between “Partisan” and “Racial” gerrymandering because in the real world due to the link between Class and Race policies affect groups differently based on their race. However, as North Carolina does not have as large a Black population as other Southern States in gerrymandering cases, the fact that “race” and “Party affiliation” may not hold the same potency in a state like Alabama where the percent of population that is Black is closer to 30% whereas it is 20% like North Carolina.
Therefore, given the current Supreme Court, Republicans will almost certainly gain 2 seats, more likely than not 3 seats and maybe even 4.
In the previous NC gerrymandering case, email surfaced that they were specifically gerrymandering by race. I wonder how close these districts are to the ones drawn then.
Perhaps there can be some continuity.
The Antide cult is all in on justice delayed, preferably delayed forever and ever, amen. Doubtless lots of laughing and backslapping by roberts and cohorts behind closed doors at our corrupted scotus, though the closed doors part is fading fast as they’re increasingly comfortable parading their corruption openly for all to see. Soviet style elections coming as quickly as they can make it happen.
It’s exhausting for honorable people, as intended.
Interest groups can get a case up to the courts fairly quickly. NC was previously cited for systematic racial discrimination in the past so there’s a backlog of data. The issue will be whether to enjoin the new map while the litigation plays out, which is what I think should happen here if there is a credible finding of a VRA issue. Will it happen? Well I’d say 40-60 shot at best given the makeup of the courts. However, there will likely be a strong case on the merits to warrant an injunction against the new maps.
VRA cases, though, are long and intensive, centering on granular dives into the districts’ political and racial makeup, voting histories and community interests.
And that was a good part of the reason for the pre-clearance requirement that was part of the original VRA legislation. Which Chief Justice Roberts, in his infinite wisdom, thought there was no more need for. Let’s hope he’s having serious second thoughts. And that he can pull Justice Cavanaugh along with him. I’m afraid the rest of the conservative wing of the Court is a lost cause.
Oh, they will deny outright that we were set up to be a democracy. “Oh, no, no,” they say. “The Founders set us up as a republic.”
I wish I could give your post a multiplicity of likes, because it pinpoints exactly what is at the core of the problem. And they are all things that are just about impossible to resolve without running into problems with the sort of strict constitutional interpretations that the current Court has saddled us with.
Our duty remains unaltered:
Once again, how is gerrymandering f’ing legal???
I know this isn’t the least bit original, but it seems to me to be a pretty solid argument…how are we okay with a system where the politicians pick their voters when it is supposed be the other way around?
The bastards. They don’t even try to hide the reason they do it.
I am getting to the point where I think congress should just not seat delegations from states with unlawful maps. If it’s under appeal, seat them when the appeal is done.
Well… see… the problem is that it is those same politicians who make the rules, also make the rules about redistricting… and so… I mean, the foxes are in charge of hen house security.
You’ll notice, for example, that there are ethical rules about stock ownership for lots of folks… but not Memebers of Congress or Senators.
We really need to be more careful about the kind of people we elect.
The concept of a republican democracy is beyond them.
I know I’m probably too optimistic here, but how would doing that help them? In what universe, and under what provision, does impeachment negate a ruling already issued?
And that’s before you get into the whole speculation from beforehand. So they issue a ruling, Trumplicans impeach her, she resigns, and then Evers promptly places a replacement on the court.
Oh hell, they know “it’s not a democracy, it’s a republic.” Is just a dumb assed “own the libs” thing.