August 3, 2014
By Robert Barnes
...But a judge in Tallahassee has blown the whistle, (click here) and thrown Florida politics into turmoil. Judge Terry Lewis found that two of the state’s 27 congressional districts were unconstitutional and wants a new congressional redistricting plan drawn in time for November’s election....
Gerrymandering was turned lose ten years ago in a conclusion by the Supreme Court as 'ungovernable.' In other words, politics is anarchy and there is no place for it within the US Constitution.
...241 F. Supp. 2d 478, affirmed. (click here)
Justice Scalia, joined by The Chief Justice, Justice O’Connor, and Justice Thomas, concluded that political gerrymandering claims are nonjusticiable because no judicially discernible and manageable standards for adjudicating such claims exist. They would therefore overrule Davis v. Bandemer, 478 U.S. 109, in which this Court held that political gerrymandering claims are justiciable, but could not agree upon a standard for assessing political gerrymandering claims. Pp. 4—37.
(a) Political gerrymanders existed in colonial times and continued through the framing. The Framers provided a remedy for the problem: the Constitution gives state legislatures the initial power to draw federal election districts, but authorizes Congress to “make or alter” those districts. U.S. Const., Art. I, §4. InBandemer, the Court held that the Equal Protection Clause also grants judges the power–and duty–to control that practice. Pp. 4—37
(b) Neither Art. I, §2 or §4, nor the Equal Protection Clause, provides a judicially enforceable limit on the political considerations that the States and Congress may take into account when districting. Pp. 7—37....
...(2) The Bandemer plurality’s standard–that a political gerrymandering claim can succeed only where the plaintiffs show “both intentional discrimination against an identifiable political group and an actual discriminatory effect on that group,”...
If Texas District 1 isn't a poster child, don't ask me what is.
Did I say ten years ago? Yeah, it was ten years ago. Interesting.
By Robert Barnes
...But a judge in Tallahassee has blown the whistle, (click here) and thrown Florida politics into turmoil. Judge Terry Lewis found that two of the state’s 27 congressional districts were unconstitutional and wants a new congressional redistricting plan drawn in time for November’s election....
Gerrymandering was turned lose ten years ago in a conclusion by the Supreme Court as 'ungovernable.' In other words, politics is anarchy and there is no place for it within the US Constitution.
...241 F. Supp. 2d 478, affirmed. (click here)
Justice Scalia, joined by The Chief Justice, Justice O’Connor, and Justice Thomas, concluded that political gerrymandering claims are nonjusticiable because no judicially discernible and manageable standards for adjudicating such claims exist. They would therefore overrule Davis v. Bandemer, 478 U.S. 109, in which this Court held that political gerrymandering claims are justiciable, but could not agree upon a standard for assessing political gerrymandering claims. Pp. 4—37.
(a) Political gerrymanders existed in colonial times and continued through the framing. The Framers provided a remedy for the problem: the Constitution gives state legislatures the initial power to draw federal election districts, but authorizes Congress to “make or alter” those districts. U.S. Const., Art. I, §4. InBandemer, the Court held that the Equal Protection Clause also grants judges the power–and duty–to control that practice. Pp. 4—37
(b) Neither Art. I, §2 or §4, nor the Equal Protection Clause, provides a judicially enforceable limit on the political considerations that the States and Congress may take into account when districting. Pp. 7—37....
...(2) The Bandemer plurality’s standard–that a political gerrymandering claim can succeed only where the plaintiffs show “both intentional discrimination against an identifiable political group and an actual discriminatory effect on that group,”...
If Texas District 1 isn't a poster child, don't ask me what is.
Did I say ten years ago? Yeah, it was ten years ago. Interesting.
