Racial Gerrymandering is back on the menu!

[Didba 5,256]

https://www.vox.com/23187117/supreme-court-louisiana-racial-gerrymander-ardoin-robinson-congressional-maps

5th circuit said this map was unconstitutional as it violated the equal protection clause. SCOTUS reversed the 5th circuit. SCOTUS being more conservative than the fifth circuit is wild.

[Didba 5,256]

"Under these maps, Black voters will control just one of Louisiana’s six congressional seats, despite the fact that African Americans make up nearly a third of the state’s population. Thus, the Court’s decision in Ardoin v. Robinson means that Black people will have half as much congressional representation as they would enjoy under maps where Black voters have as much opportunity to elect their own preferred candidate as white people in Louisiana. 

A federal trial court, applying longstanding Supreme Court precedents holding that the Voting Rights Act does not permit such racial gerrymanders, issued a preliminary injunction temporarily striking down the Louisiana maps and ordering the state legislature to draw new ones that include two Black-majority districts. Notably, a very conservative panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit denied the state’s request to stay the trial court’s decision — a sign that Louisiana’s maps were such a clear violation of the Voting Rights Act that even one of the most conservative appeals courts in the country could not find a good reason to disturb the trial court’s decision."

"As the Fifth Circuit explained, current law typically forbids maps that dilute a particular racial group’s voting power, at least when that group is “sufficiently large and compact to form a majority” in additional congressional districts, when it “votes cohesively” and when “whites tend to vote as a bloc” to defeat the minority group’s preferred candidates.

Nevertheless, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 along party lines to stay the trial court’s injunction, effectively reinstating the gerrymandered maps. The Court’s order is only one page, and it provides no substantive explanation of why the Court’s Republican appointees voted to effectively strip Black Louisianans of half of their representation in the US House of Representatives."

Edited June 29, 2022 by Didba

[GoAU 1,600]

Are there any maps as to how the districts were drawn?   I have no tolerance for “creative drawing” of districts with an ulterior motive.  However, if they did some like dividing the state into 4 equal size blocks and let the chips fall where they may, I could see that.  Truthfully, I don’t have enough information from the article to draw an educated opinion.   
 

As much as it caused me physical pain, I even clicked on the link to see if there were graphics there and didn’t see any.   Can’t believe I went to VOX - yuck……
 

 

[Didba 5,256]

43 minutes ago, GoAU said:

Are there any maps as to how the districts were drawn?   I have no tolerance for “creative drawing” of districts with an ulterior motive.  However, if they did some like dividing the state into 4 equal size blocks and let the chips fall where they may, I could see that.  Truthfully, I don’t have enough information from the article to draw an educated opinion.   
 

As much as it caused me physical pain, I even clicked on the link to see if there were graphics there and didn’t see any.   Can’t believe I went to VOX - yuck……
 

 

I saw the map elsewhere and its terrible. They did some very creative drawing to keep BR/NOLA in one district.  I cannot find a image of the map but just trust me its really bad.

Edited June 29, 2022 by Didba

[AUDub 11,182]

1 hour ago, GoAU said:

Are there any maps as to how the districts were drawn?   I have no tolerance for “creative drawing” of districts with an ulterior motive.  However, if they did some like dividing the state into 4 equal size blocks and let the chips fall where they may, I could see that.  Truthfully, I don’t have enough information from the article to draw an educated opinion.   
 

As much as it caused me physical pain, I even clicked on the link to see if there were graphics there and didn’t see any.   Can’t believe I went to VOX - yuck……
 

 

You ever looked at map if Alabama's districts? It's wild. Only district with any proper minority representation is basically Birmingham,  down i59 to Tuscaloosa, then our black belt. They've essentially lassoed the majority of minority voters into one district. 

When Doug Jones beat Roy Moore, he only carried one district, and that was it. 

Edited June 29, 2022 by AUDub

[AUDub 11,182]

See this? That district 7  is where most all of the black people are. 

Edited June 29, 2022 by AUDub

[Didba 5,256]

1 minute ago, AUDub said:

See this? That district 7 is most all of the black people are. 

I am surprised they didn't try to make 7 reach all the way down to Prichard

Edited June 29, 2022 by Didba

[AU9377 5,035]

I just believe that districts should have as much of a geographical consistency as possible.  For example, someone in Mobile should not share a congressman with someone in Montgomery simply to maintain any sort of ethnic percentages in any one district.  Both sides manipulate the maps when given the opportunity.

Edited June 30, 2022 by AU9377

[Didba 5,256]

31 minutes ago, AU9377 said:

I just believe that districts should have as much of a geographical consistency as possible.  For example, someone in Mobile should not share a congressman with someone in Montgomery simply to maintain any sort of ethnic percentages in any one district.  Both sides manipulate the maps when given the opportunity.

Yeah this is am issue that both sides definitely do because it's a zero sum game where both sides know the other will cheat.

If we had a proportional system wasted votes wouldn't exist and gerrymandering would cease to be possible.

[NolaAuTiger 3,295]

On 6/29/2022 at 2:49 PM, Didba said:

https://www.vox.com/23187117/supreme-court-louisiana-racial-gerrymander-ardoin-robinson-congressional-maps

5th circuit said this map was unconstitutional as it violated the equal protection clause. SCOTUS reversed the 5th circuit. SCOTUS being more conservative than the fifth circuit is wild.

When you say the “5th circuit said this map was unconstitutional as it violated the equal protection clause,” what specific opinion/case are you referring to? I couldn’t seem to find the merits opinion. I could’ve overlooked it.

When you say “SCOTUS reversed the 5th circuit,” what specific SCOTUS holding are you referring to? Or are you referring to them granting the application for stay?  

[AU9377 5,035]

9 hours ago, Didba said:

Yeah this is am issue that both sides definitely do because it's a zero sum game where both sides know the other will cheat.

If we had a proportional system wasted votes wouldn't exist and gerrymandering would cease to be possible.

Proportional systems of govt do encourage more parties, but they lessen the importance of individual candidates.  I think Americans overall would be apprehensive about the idea because they want to elect individual representatives, even though those representatives are often more loyal to party interests than they are the interests of their constituents.

[Didba 5,256]

16 hours ago, AU9377 said:

Proportional systems of govt do encourage more parties, but they lessen the importance of individual candidates.  I think Americans overall would be apprehensive about the idea because they want to elect individual representatives, even though those representatives are often more loyal to party interests than they are the interests of their constituents.

I disagree, and I talk about it in my seminar Redacted Paper.pdfpaper if you are interested in taking a look

[Didba 5,256]

18 hours ago, NolaAuTiger said:

When you say the “5th circuit said this map was unconstitutional as it violated the equal protection clause,” what specific opinion/case are you referring to? I couldn’t seem to find the merits opinion. I could’ve overlooked it.

When you say “SCOTUS reversed the 5th circuit,” what specific SCOTUS holding are you referring to? Or are you referring to them granting the application for stay?  

When they stay it they also say a new map needs to be drawn but when it gets appealed to scotus everything stops is my understanding but I'm not entirely sure as it didn't directly lay eyes on the fifth circuits opinion. If you remind me later tonight I'll check westlaw and lexis for it and I'll post the pdf if I find it. Lexis/westlaw have waay more stuff then easily found on Google. Costs Hella $$$ to get access to westlaw/lexis