"There's John Roberts and the US supreme court, who pretended partisan gerrymandering is just politics as usual, left voters naked to extreme power grabs, and failed the nation when voters most needed the courts' protection. That 5-4 decision in 2019 would have been different if not for Mitch McConnell, who prevented Democrats from filling an open seat on the court in 2016, and preserved it for the Republican party and Neil Gorsuch."
"But perhaps the most important reason is the brilliant 2010 Republican strategy called Redmap short for the Redistricting Majority Project which left Republicans in charge of drawing lines for four times as many congressional seats as Democrats, and close to 70% of state legislatures nationwide. Just a few years earlier, jubilant Democrats had celebrated Barack Obama's 2008 victory and dreamed that America's changing demographics would lead to a decade of triumphs and a new permanent majority."
Republican tactical focus on redistricting after 2010 produced disproportionate control of congressional-seat drawing and approximately 70% of state legislatures. A 2019 Supreme Court 5-4 ruling declined to treat partisan gerrymandering as justiciable, leaving voters exposed to extreme mapmaking. Senate obstruction in 2016 prevented a Democratic Supreme Court appointment and preserved a conservative majority. Republicans maintained the House in 2012 while winning fewer overall votes by leveraging district maps. Democrats failed to prioritize redistricting after 2008 victories, allowing long-term structural disadvantages that continue to hamper efforts to regain proportional representation.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]