Gerrymandering is an American tradition (I didn’t say it was a good tradition–I just said it was a tradition).<\/p>\n
According to Wikipedia (which I don’t generally recommend as a source):<\/p>\n
The term gerrymandering<\/i> is named after American politician Elbridge Gerry<\/a>,[a]<\/a><\/sup>[6]<\/a><\/sup> Vice President of the United States<\/a> at the time of his death, who, as Governor of Massachusetts<\/a> in 1812, signed a bill that created a partisan district in the Boston<\/a> area that was compared to the shape of a mythological salamander<\/a>. The term has negative connotations and gerrymandering is almost always considered a corruption of the democratic process. The resulting district is known as a gerrymander<\/i> (\/\u02c8<\/span>d\u0292<\/span>\u025br<\/span>i<\/span>\u02cc<\/span>m<\/span>\u00e6<\/span>n<\/span>d<\/span>\u0259r<\/span>, \u02c8<\/span>\u0261<\/span>\u025br<\/span>i<\/span>-\/<\/a><\/span><\/span>). The word is also a verb for the process.<\/strong><\/sup><\/p>\n Our voting district in Massachusetts looked like a shadow drawing of a sea horse. It was drawn like that to minimize the Republican votes in the area of Massachusetts that bordered northeast Rhode Island. Districts are drawn by state legislators and are usually drawn to give the advantage to whichever party is in power. There are less noble reasons for drawing districts, but the fact remains that the state legislators have the responsibility to draw those districts. Recently a case involving districts drawn by the Alabama legislature was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n On Monday, The Epoch Times<\/a> reported:<\/p>\n The Supreme Court on Monday halted an order requiring Alabama<\/a> to redraw congressional districts ahead of the 2022 elections.<\/strong><\/p>\n A lower court had\u00a0determined<\/a>\u00a0in late January that the\u00a0new Alabama congressional electoral map\u00a0disadvantages black voters and likely violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.<\/strong><\/p>\n The lower court\u2019s three-judge panel said the state should have two\u00a0majority-black districts, instead of one. The congressional map, approved by Alabama\u2019s Legislature last year, has one\u00a0majority-black district.<\/strong><\/p>\n Alabama\u2019s delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives consists of<\/a> six Republicans and one Democrat.<\/strong><\/p>\n Alabama was given until Feb. 11 to create a new map, but it appealed the district court\u2019s decision instead.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Supreme Court\u2019s 5-4 ruling (pdf<\/a>)\u00a0grants a stay of the lower court\u2019s order to have the districts redrawn.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe stay order is not a ruling on the merits, but instead simply stays the District Court\u2019s injunction pending a ruling on the merits,\u201d Justice Brett Kavanaugh, joined by Justice Samuel Alito, wrote.<\/strong><\/p>\n The legislature has the right to draw voting districts. The courts do not have the right to undo those districts and require new maps. The districts may not be drawn fairly in Alabama, but it is up to the voters in Alabama to vote for people in the legislature that will create districts that better reflect the population. There are other states where the courts are trying to control the redistricting process. This is an example of the courts attempting to usurp the job of the legislature. The courts do not have that right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gerrymandering is an American tradition (I didn’t say it was a good tradition–I just said it was a tradition). According to Wikipedia (which I don’t generally recommend as a source): The term gerrymandering is named after American politician Elbridge Gerry,[a][6] … Continue reading