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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums'Tragically Wrong': 6 Brutal Lines from Justice Kagan's Gerrymandering Dissent
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/kagan-dissent-supreme-court-gerrymandering-852999/?fbclid=IwAR13rrRZSBaZj1lcnjtF5PHeDMa3bKVzLiSdQ7tgINE88p6rC-ibWLRZqUwJune 27, 2019 10:53AM ET
Tragically Wrong: 6 Brutal Lines from Justice Kagans Gerrymandering Dissent
The liberal justice blasted the Supreme Courts conservatives for abdicating their duty and putting American democracy in danger
By Andy Kroll
WASHINGTON The Supreme Courts five conservatives ruled Thursday that federal courts have no role to play in striking down politically rigged congressional maps that deny equal representations to citizens of a given state. The courts majority opinion, responding to two lawsuits challenging gerrymandered maps in Maryland and North Carolina, effectively punted, saying there is no standard to decide such cases. The decision is a serious blow to voting rights groups who had hoped the high court would step in and set a precedent on the issue of gerrymandering.
In her dissent, Justice Elena Kagan, one of the courts four liberals, blasted the five conservative justices. She accused them of abdicating their duties with a tragically wrong decision that would have disastrous consequences for American democracy. Here are six of the most blistering lines from Kagans dissent:
Maybe the majority errs in these cases because it pays so little attention to the constitutional harms at their core. After dutifully reciting each cases facts, the majority leaves them forever behind, instead immersing itself in everything that could conceivably go amiss if courts became involved.
The majoritys idea instead seems to be that if we have lived with partisan gerrymanders so long, we will survive. That complacency has no cause. Yes, partisan gerrymandering goes back to the Republics earliest days. (As does vociferous opposition to it.) But big data and modern technologyof just the kind that the mapmakers in North Carolina and Maryland usedmake todays gerrymandering altogether different from the crude line-drawing of the past.
For the first time in this Nations history, the majority declares that it can do nothing about an acknowledged constitutional violation because it has searched high and low and cannot find a workable legal standard to apply.
n throwing up its hands, the majority misses something under its nose: What it says cant be done has been done. Over the past several years, federal courts across the countryincluding, but not exclusively, in the decisions belowhave largely converged on a standard for adjudicating partisan gerrymandering claims (striking down both Democratic and Republican districting plans in the process).
Of all times to abandon the Courts duty to declare the law, this was not the one. The practices challenged in these cases imperil our system of government. Part of the Courts role in that system is to defend its foundations. None is more important than free and fair elections. With respect but deep sadness, I dissent.
You can read the majoritys opinion and Kagans dissent @ link.
patphil
(6,193 posts)may very well be the transformation of the Supreme Court into an arm of the Republican Party.
Gerrymandering is one of the last ditch tools that republicans use to hold on to power in situations where they are in the minority across an entire state.
It is inherently Un-american, and strikes at the heart of our Democratic processes.
The Supreme Court has now institutionalized it as a legal means of manipulating the content of the House of Representatives.
I shudder to think how they will rule if a voter suppression case comes before this morally deficient court.
Patrick Phillips
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)This is a travesty of justice. We can pretty much kiss all pretense of "impartiality" by Supreme Court Justices goodbye. They are all partisan hacks who are doing the bidding of their party leaders. These republican judges have no integrity whatsoever.
I also think we need to get rid of the tradition that SCJ's have their appointments for life. I think that needs to change and there should be term limits. This is one of the reasons that the republicans were so desperate for a win. So that they could stack the courts with activist judges for life who would rule in favor of their agenda and keep them in power.
SunSeeker
(51,580 posts)stopdiggin
(11,325 posts)This dereliction strikes right at the heart of concepts such as "equal representation" and "one man, one vote". (yes, I know -- have always been concepts and ideal rather than actual application) Nonetheless, SCOTUS has essentially turned it's back on any standard of fairness. Shrugged their shoulders and washed their hands with a puny "we can find no remedy" rationalization. It is pathetic .. and tragic.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)stopdiggin
(11,325 posts)"But big data and modern technologyof just the kind that the mapmakers in North Carolina and Maryland usedmake todays gerrymandering altogether different from the crude line-drawing of the past.
Data is being weaponized on virtually every front .. we all know this .. and to ignore it's impact on our political process at this point in our history .. is utter folly! Willful and staggering ignorance.
Pepsidog
(6,254 posts)gtar100
(4,192 posts)that republicans are unable to win in free and fair elections but instead require methods of cheating the system to get elected. It's an admission that their platform will not work without lying, cheating, or stealing from the people. They have no good ideas on how to govern. None.
And the Supreme Court *again* has shown that the current panel of conservative judges are willing to be nothing more than partisan, political hacks. They have ruined the integrity of the highest court, showing that they are unable to do their fucking jobs without playing politics.
Oh well. Maybe after the next civil war our children can set up something better. I have no hope for this generation of republicans. They are shameless and loathsome and will no doubt be taking their rotting souls all the way to the grave. Good luck, assholes. Better pray the atheists are right because you're hurting a lot of people and that kind of karma is going to be a real bitch to work through.
uponit7771
(90,347 posts)Tanuki
(14,919 posts)Danascot
(4,690 posts)but there's a good chance they'll do something worse.