>
Source: 30dB.com – Partisan%20Gerrymandering
Gerrymandering is the intentional reshaping of congressional district boundaries to give the majority party and its incumbent politicians a distinct advantage in elections. On Jan. 22 the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the Republican-drawn map is unconstitutional and must be reconstructed. But Republicans, who currently control 13 of 18 congressional seats, have been fighting fiercely to stop that from happening. They have threatened to impeach the Pennsylvania judges who made the ruling and appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. But SCOTUS shut that tactic down: Justice Samuel Alito, a conservative member of the court, declined to let the case go forward. While some have taken Alito’s ruling as an intentional blow against gerrymandering, The New York Times wrote: The Supreme Court “rarely intervenes in election cases from state courts.” Still, with competitive races approaching in 2018 and 2020, and a couple of potential gerrymandering cases is still pending before SCOTUS, it’s likely there may be nationwide clarity about the legality of gerrymandering down the road. Over the past 90 days, “Partisan Gerrymandering” has just a 25 percent positive score on Social. –Alex Shultz
Republished from 30dB