The Supreme Court has stayed two different rulings from the Circuit Courts of Appeals. Both deal with the need for redistricting of congressional maps, one in Michigan and one in Ohio. There is currently pending in the Supreme Court a case on what rules, if any, a federal court should use in determining if district lines drawn by a legislature are invalid. For example, while we know that there are strict rules to follow with regard to racial makeup of a district, there is not any clear rules as of yet about how to treat districts drawn for partisan purposes. Are such lines improper under the Constitution, and, if so, how is that to be determined.
In 2010, the election results brought the Republicans into power in a majority of state legislatures for the first time in about 80 years. As a result, the district lines that always favored the Dems suddenly were drawn without that pro-Dem bias and instead with a slant towards the GOP. Democrats screamed foul as they lost this advantage that they had used for all that time to keep control, and they rushed to courts to try to get the GOP-drawn lines overturned. All those court cases resulted in a series of rulings, but no definitive view from the Supreme Court. That is about to end.
A Supreme Court ruling on this point will have major consequences in many states for the foreseeable future. The decision should be issued in the next month.
In 2010, the election results brought the Republicans into power in a majority of state legislatures for the first time in about 80 years. As a result, the district lines that always favored the Dems suddenly were drawn without that pro-Dem bias and instead with a slant towards the GOP. Democrats screamed foul as they lost this advantage that they had used for all that time to keep control, and they rushed to courts to try to get the GOP-drawn lines overturned. All those court cases resulted in a series of rulings, but no definitive view from the Supreme Court. That is about to end.
A Supreme Court ruling on this point will have major consequences in many states for the foreseeable future. The decision should be issued in the next month.
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