@hightor,
hightor wrote:
Quote:Prominent Republicans Urge Supreme Court to End Gerrymandering
WASHINGTON — Breaking ranks with many of their fellow Republicans, a group of prominent politicians filed briefs on Tuesday urging the Supreme Court to rule that extreme political gerrymandering — the drawing of voting districts to give lopsided advantages to the party in power — violates the Constitution.
The briefs were signed by Republicans including Senator John McCain of Arizona; Gov. John R. Kasich of Ohio; Bob Dole, the former Republican Senate leader from Kansas and the party’s 1996 presidential nominee; the former senators John C. Danforth of Missouri, Richard G. Lugar of Indiana and Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming; and Arnold Schwarzenegger, a former governor of California.
NYT
None of them are prominent Republicans, except to the NYT, and none of them have any stock in gerrymandering, although Kasich probably benefited from it when he was a congressman.
Quote:Partisan gerrymandering is almost as old as the nation, and both parties have used it. But in recent years, as Republicans captured state legislatures around the country, they have been the primary beneficiaries. Aided by sophisticated software, they have drawn oddly shaped voting districts to favor their party’s candidates.
In the 1980s, when Democrats had more political power in state legislatures, they were enthusiastic proponents of partisan gerrymandering, Mr. Simpson, the former Wyoming senator, said.
“The Democrats laid the groundwork and set the template, and then Republicans figured they better get cracking, too,” he said.
The two parties’ legal arguments have flipped as their power shifted, Professor Fried said.
“The same arguments, exactly, were made on the other side when Democrats were doing this to Republicans,” he said. “This is a prime example that people don’t mean anything that they say, that all arguments are opportunistic.”
That Democrats don't benefit from gerrymandering as much as Republicans do which is why we don't see amicus briefs in favor of the system being filed by the DNC et al.
This is the
nuclear option redux. When Reid pulled the trigger first and started the ball rolling Democrats all argued it had to be done. Power switched and the GOP pulled the trigger a second time and it was the end of Democracy!
Now, once again, Republicans are supposed to be adults and do what's best for the nation. To which I say
bullshit!
Old Fart Elder Statesmen are not going to save the nation from the worsening polarization. I don't know what, if anything, will but I sure as hell don't trust Democrats to give up any of they're advantages to make it happen.
