Gerry and Mander

If you blinked your eyes, you might have missed this one. But on Friday, the GOP leaning North Carolina Supreme Court reversed itself on a decision it rendered a year ago to control partisan gerrymandering. At the same time, the court said it was wrong to invalidate photo ID requirements at the polls, which the then-Democrat controlled court did in 2018.

Gerrymandering, by definition, is when a political group tries to change a voting district to create a result that either helps them or hurts the group that is against them. It's a loophole (or maybe a rabbit hole) in the U.S. Constitution that seems to have no remedy. At least, not in North Carolina. Not now.

It sounds illegal. It should be. It isn't.

Anyway, because of the reversal, the GOP can return to the old legislative maps that were clearly drawn on partisan lines and which could give them at least four more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. In other words, the court, and not the voter, is deciding issues. It also takes away a tool that basically gives the voter the ability to censure legislators. 

Currently, North Carolina has 14 representatives, seven from each party. After the new/old maps return, the GOP could have an 11-3 advantage. Democracy is wobbling.

And guess what? You can expect the Republican-controlled legislature to continue its onslaught on democracy with an assault on voting rights in North Carolina, perhaps targeting voting and same-day voter registration next.

We could become the next Florida. Book banning is getting closer. So is suppression of human rights.

There is currently a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, Moore v. Harper, waiting a decision. The Republicans are arguing that only state legislatures have the power to write election rules, based on a resurrected and broad legal argument known as Independent State Legislature Theory. The outcome could have national implications for our democracy.

And when did the courts become to politicized? I thought they were supposed to follow the law and not partisan politics. Even the U.S. Supreme Court rules on party lines, reversing decades-old decisions based on severely flawed opinions. Plus, it has an ethics problem to boot.

I'm not a lawyer. All of this is confusing enough to me and I hope I'm getting this correct. But it seems to me the key word here is "theory." Why are we dealing in theory and not common sense? All of this strikes me more as a power grab than a vote for democracy and the people.

If we are a nation trying to form a more perfect union with our experiment in democracy, why are we trying to make voting more difficult? We should be making it easier.

Blame Gerry and Mander.