KHH1

Supreme Court upholds power of independent commissions to draw districts


By David G. Savage

June 29, 2015, 6:41 a.m.

The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the kind of independent redistricting commissions used in Arizona and California to prevent partisan gerrymandering.

The 5-4 decision bolsters an increasingly popular political reform adopted by v**ers in California and other states to t***sfer authority to draw districts from state legislators to a nonpartisan citizen panel.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the Constitution gives states broad leeway to decide on their e******n rules, and states like Arizona and California may rely on "direct democracy" which allows the v**ers to decide.

"The people of Arizona turned to the initiative to curb the practice of gerrymandering," she said, and nothing in the Constitution forbids them from making that decision.

The four most conservatives justices dissented.

In dissent, Chief Justice John Roberts accused the majority of performing a "magic trick" by interpreting the Constitution to allow the people, not the legislature, to set the rules for electing members of Congress.

He agreed with Arizona's Republican legislature that it should have the exclusive power to decide on districts for members of Congress. Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito agreed.

The decision turned on a somewhat obscure provision in the Constitution. It says: "The Times, Places and Manners of holding E******ns for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the Legislature thereof, but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such regulations."

Arizona's v**ers passed a state constitutional amendment in 2000 to remove the redistricting authority from the state legislature and to turn it over to a new Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission.

Three years ago, Arizona's Republican lawmakers sued in federal court seeking to overturn the decision of the v**ers. They said the Constitution reserved this power to "the Legislature thereof," and this authority may not be taken away.

Defenders of the commission argued the state's law-making authority can rest with the people when they pass propositions.

The case of Arizona State Legislature vs. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission called on the high court to resolve a dispute between two parts of the same state's governing structure.

If the court had struck down the independent commissions, it would have threatened numerous congressional districts in Arizona and California that were drawn by nonpartisan citizen commissions.

In addition, five other states have semi-independent commissions that could have been affected by the ruling: Washington, Idaho, Montana, Hawaii and New Jersey.

The decision is a victory for reformers who saw independent commissions as the best weapon to stop politicians from manipulating e*******l district lines to protect incumbents or political fiefdoms. Three former California governors -- Pete Wilson, George Deukmejian and Arnold Schwarzenegger -- filed a friend-of-the court brief urging the justices to uphold the state's independent panel.

With 53 members, the California delegation in the House of Representatives, 38 Democrats and 15 Republicans, is the largest in Congress.

In 2008, Californians approved a b****t measure to shift the redistricting power for state Legislature seats to a citizens commission. Two years later, v**ers approved a second measure to extend its authority to congressional districts.

Twitter: @DavidGSavage

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

Gerrymandering has been abused by both parties over the years. I hope this ruling establishes a much fairer way to determine congressional districts other than aligning them to clearly favor one party or group over another. :thumbup:

lpnmajor Loc: Arkansas

That's great! A win for democracy. Now we need Constitutional amendments requiring representatives to poll ALL of their constituents, prior to casting v**es - and an independent commission to validate the poll results and compare that to the representatives v**e.

Back in the good old days, contacting representatives was problematic and slow. That certainly isn't the case now. I dare say even many of our Republican friends would agree that there is a major malfunction where representation is concerned. We MUST find a way to hold our representatives accountable, whenever they fail to represent OUR wishes and v**e to someone else's tune - and not have to wait for the next e******n cycle.

Elwood Loc: Florida

If you want to see an example of extreme DemocRat gerrymandering look at Corrine Brown's district in Florida.
:hunf: :XD: :XD:

KHH1

Nah.....i'll look at texas and how the Hispanic population outgrew everyone in leaps and bounds and the impact was minimized throught gerrymandering which was held up by a court there...in a republican (not for long) state........

working class stiff Loc: N. Carolina

That's odd....since the state districts were drawn by Republicans.
http://b****tpedia.org/Florida%27s_5th_Congressional_District

Elwood Loc: Florida

Not that one and she has been fighting to stop it from changing.