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re: Huge SCOTUS Case Today About Gerrymandering!

Posted on 10/3/17 at 7:53 am to
Posted by GumboPot
Member since Mar 2009
140573 posts
Posted on 10/3/17 at 7:53 am to
What right does the federal government have in drawing state districts/precincts?

What is the constitutional basis?
Posted by TigernMS12
Member since Jan 2013
5684 posts
Posted on 10/3/17 at 8:00 am to
The argument is it infringes on people's constitutional right to vote. If the lines are drawn such that your vote wins a significant majority of the actual vote but loses by significant majority in reality due to the way the district map is drawn, does your vote really count? Does this violate your right to vote. I'm not endorcing any side, but that's the question both sides are going to have to answer.
This post was edited on 10/3/17 at 8:06 am
Posted by Errerrerrwere
Member since Aug 2015
44412 posts
Posted on 10/3/17 at 8:03 am to
quote:

The argument is it infringes on people's constitutional right to vote


What?

quote:

If the lines are drawn such that your vote wins a significant majority of the actual vote but loses by significant majority in reality due to the way the district map is drawn, does your vote really count?


What?

quote:

I'm not enforcing any side, but that's the question both sides are going to have to answer.


Not really.
Posted by TigernMS12
Member since Jan 2013
5684 posts
Posted on 10/3/17 at 8:06 am to
Yes, really.
Posted by fouldeliverer
Lannisport
Member since Nov 2008
13538 posts
Posted on 10/3/17 at 8:07 am to
quote:

The argument is it infringes on people's constitutional right to vote. If the lines are drawn such that your vote wins a significant majority of the actual vote but loses by significant majority in reality due to the way the district map is drawn, does your vote really count? Does this violate your right to vote. I'm not enforcing any side, but that's the question both sides are going to have to answer.


Yep. Our electoral system, Single-Member District or First Past the Post is heavily criticized as being the worst types of electoral systems. Though it varies many other advanced democracies use Proportional Representation or at least a mixed system.

ETA: SMD/FPTP systems also inevitably leads to two-party dominance.
This post was edited on 10/3/17 at 8:08 am
Posted by SlowFlowPro
With populists, expect populism
Member since Jan 2004
475973 posts
Posted on 10/3/17 at 8:15 am to
these gerrymandering cases are getting into scary territory re: judicial activism

just from a fundamental, philosophical angle, think about what kind of mind reading the court is going to have to engage in, and THEN possibly create new rules out of thin air that haven't really ever been accepted as part of our judicial system for centuries

i don't see how you divide up individual motivations of hundreds of state lawmakers in order to pass some judicial smell test
Posted by SlowFlowPro
With populists, expect populism
Member since Jan 2004
475973 posts
Posted on 10/3/17 at 8:16 am to
quote:

Is it because you are antisemitic or a misogynist?

why not being anti-socialist and/or anti-authoritarian?
Posted by GumboPot
Member since Mar 2009
140573 posts
Posted on 10/3/17 at 8:19 am to
quote:

Though it varies many other advanced democracies use Proportional Representation or at least a mixed system.


What happens when the demographics of districts change and the representation is no longer proportional? Does the judicial system step in and redraw district lines?
Posted by fouldeliverer
Lannisport
Member since Nov 2008
13538 posts
Posted on 10/3/17 at 8:19 am to
quote:

i don't see how you divide up individual motivations of hundreds of state lawmakers in order to pass some judicial smell test


There's only one motivation, stay in power. With that said, I agree it does stray into judicial activism. Furthermore, where do you draw the unconstitutional line? This is why there was such an intense debate last time, with four justices stating that the court should never even take gerrymandering cases. The efficiency gap method does seem to be one of the best ways to determine partisan gerrymandering. But, it isn't perfect, and still, the question remains, exactly how gerrymandered is too gerrymandered?
Posted by fouldeliverer
Lannisport
Member since Nov 2008
13538 posts
Posted on 10/3/17 at 8:21 am to
quote:


why not being anti-socialist and/or anti-authoritarian?


I was being sarcastic. Those work too.
Posted by LSUTigersVCURams
Member since Jul 2014
21940 posts
Posted on 10/3/17 at 8:21 am to
To me the most troubling thing is that to uphold the district court is basically enshrining the toxic idea of partisan preference-as-identity in the law. Truth is, most Americans vote both Democrat and Republican at some point in their life. It would be a very dangerous precedent to hold that the whole system has to get blown up because some Democrats live in a Republican district, and I don't think Kennedy is going to go for it.
Posted by SlowFlowPro
With populists, expect populism
Member since Jan 2004
475973 posts
Posted on 10/3/17 at 8:22 am to
most other western-democratic countries have a system ruled primarily by a leviathan federal government and they have no real concept of federalism with smaller units having significant power. even the countries that do have sub-federal divisions are much different b/c they (1) have larger subdivisions that are fewer in number and (2) don't deal with the vast diversity that we have

demographic concerns of small units of area just simply aren't a concern to pretty much all other developed-Western states
Posted by fouldeliverer
Lannisport
Member since Nov 2008
13538 posts
Posted on 10/3/17 at 8:24 am to
There aren't district lines the way we understand them in a proportional system. They use multi-member or "super districts" Generally speaking, whatever percentage of the vote a party receives that is the number of seats they gain in the legislature.
Posted by SlowFlowPro
With populists, expect populism
Member since Jan 2004
475973 posts
Posted on 10/3/17 at 8:26 am to
quote:

Furthermore, where do you draw the unconstitutional line?

they'll probably create some stupid pronged test or something

they also likely won't address the root cause of gerrymandering: the voting rights act. even if you're discussing states that don't fall under it, the VRA created gerrymandering that has led to the examples and data used to develop gerrymandering science today

the VRA is absolutely great for minorities in specific districts spread across the US but is terrible for DEMs in any area around those districts.

also the DEM strategy of urban identification hurts them without any intentional GM. they waste tons of votes there, b/c they DOMINATE their urban districts and large population centers vote overwhelmingly for DEM candidates. this creates a distortion in the national perception of total votes (which don't matter)
Posted by boogiewoogie1978
Little Rock
Member since Aug 2012
20034 posts
Posted on 10/3/17 at 8:28 am to
quote:

the conspiracy board masquerading as a Poli board?


Posted by SlowFlowPro
With populists, expect populism
Member since Jan 2004
475973 posts
Posted on 10/3/17 at 8:29 am to
quote:

Truth is, most Americans vote both Democrat and Republican at some point in their life.

as you go down, i imagine partisanship decreases

out here, only certain demos truly care about party identification or possibly in certain races

quote:

It would be a very dangerous precedent to hold that the whole system has to get blown up because some Democrats live in a Republican district,

i mean i don't know how you fix it

look at how messy the VRA cases get, with lawsuits and judicial injunctions made by politically-motivated judges and all that. are we going to set up that system for EVERYONE? we're going to allow the local federal district court to act as the body who draws the lines? c'mon
Posted by SabiDojo
Open to any suggestions.
Member since Nov 2010
84424 posts
Posted on 10/3/17 at 8:30 am to
What a mess
Posted by Y.A. Tittle
Member since Sep 2003
110851 posts
Posted on 10/3/17 at 8:32 am to
Congressional districts should be completely randomly generated, with no considerations as to demographics. Everything will work itself out in the wash, if you do that.

I don't think this should be determined by the Supreme Court, though.
Posted by SlowFlowPro
With populists, expect populism
Member since Jan 2004
475973 posts
Posted on 10/3/17 at 8:37 am to
quote:

Congressional districts should be completely randomly generated, with no considerations as to demographics. Everything will work itself out in the wash, if you do that.

i'm all for that, but it would be illegal under the VRA

in a perfect system, we would have randomly allotted districts. that would be great for both partisanship but also incumbency bias and how candidates get to become celebrities within their districts. would really cause a lot of disruption in DC when there is tons of turnover each election, too, which would be awesome b/c they'd get together to do less bullshite
This post was edited on 10/3/17 at 8:38 am
Posted by RogerTheShrubber
Juneau, AK
Member since Jan 2009
298305 posts
Posted on 10/3/17 at 8:41 am to
quote:

quote: Ruth Bader Ginsburg I hate that fricking bitch.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Is it because you are antisemitic or a misogynist?


It's fricking sad when you immediately jump to stupid shite like "anti-Semitic and misogynic" and totally disregard anything else.

Shows how dumbed down the population has become
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