Courts give permission to rig elections

The system is rigged. And apparently the nation’s highest court is ok with that. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on its final day before its summer break that efforts to create legislative districts benefiting one political party over the other is constitutional. Actually, according to Chief Justice John Roberts, the issue is beyond the purview of the court. The case in question were cases from North Carolina and Maryland, but the high court’s ruling effectively ends a similar legal fight in Wisconsin. Dissenting Justice Elena Kagan called gerrymandering “anti-democratic in the most profound sense” saying it “imperils our system of government.” Even Justice Roberts admitted the maps are “highly partisan.” Even so, clearly we can’t rely on the courts to fix this problem. And in fact, the practice of our elected representatives creating the maps so as to limit the power of the vote of some people is likely to get worse in the wake of this ruling. Lawmakers in Wisconsin and elsewhere will likely be emboldened by the high court’s ruling, and will take the extreme map mapping even further. That is despite the fact that 72% of Wisconsin voters say they want to ban gerrymandering. Two state lawmakers in Wisconsin have introduced legislation to ban gerrymandering in favor of independent, non-partisan redistricting. Without help from the courts, this is where the fight must go next. Because every voter deserves to have their voice heard.