Supreme Court authorizes the use of most cards in Texas



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Decision 9-0 hides a deep division in gerrymandering at the Supreme Court

The court upheld three of the four district maps in Texas that critics claimed were intentionally discriminatory against minority voters, but shot one.

In North Carolina, he swept a lower court opinion that had invalidated congressional cards as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.

Monday's decision marked a new step by the Supreme Court on gerrymandering cases. Last week, the court punished on alleged gerrymandering in Wisconsin and Maryland, allowing the cards to stand for the moment.

"The common denominator of the court's court decisions has been to make it more difficult for plaintiffs to bring these claims," ​​said Steve Vladeck, CNN's legal analyst and professor at the law faculty of the CNN. University of Texas. by drawing congressional and state district lines. "

The Texas case divided the judges by 5-4, separating them along conservative-liberal lines. The court appeared very divided over the case in April and split 5-4 last fall when it chose to freeze a lower court notice invalidating two congressional districts and state districts in the state. four counties.

In his majority opinion, Judge Samuel Alito stated that all disputed districts, except one, were legal. "There is no indication that the legislature acted in bad faith," Alito wrote.

In a fierce dissent, Judge Sonia Sotomayor said that the court had "done everything possible to allow the state of Texas to use cards judged unanimously by the three district court judges to preserve the racial discrimination that stained his previous cards. "

North Carolina

In an unsigned order on Monday, the court overturned a lower court notice that had invalidated Congress cards in North Carolina as unconstitutional gerrymander and asked the lower court to re-examine the case in light of the Recent opinion of the Supreme Court on Wisconsin maps.

Although a lower court has invalidated the cards, the Supreme Court has upheld this order, and they will likely be used in the upcoming elections.

In the Wisconsin case, Gill v. Whitford, a 9-0 court, ruled that the challengers could not bring the dispute because they had not proven a "concrete and special" injury that would demonstrate that their voting rights had been overwhelmed . In ruling on procedural grounds, the judges dodged a decision as to whether the courts could hear such challenges in the first place.
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