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If not the branch mentioned in the Constitution, SCOTUS would have to pick some other branch as senior for gerrymandering purposes. By what logic would they sel
by hirundo 4y ago
If not the branch mentioned in the Constitution, SCOTUS would have to pick some other branch as senior for gerrymandering purposes. By what logic would they select a different branch? Discretion in the choice of branch is room for a judicial thumb on the scale. Picking the judicial branch would be self serving.
Clearly there's a huge incentive for corruption by giving legislatures the power to choose their own voters. But those incentives apply to the other branches too.
I'd like to see gerrymandering made moot by representation that is selectable by the voter across geographic boundaries. Each voter chooses their representative, instead of visa versa in a gerrymander. I wonder if a sufficiently independent legislature could do that in a way that is consistent with the Constitution.
- YPPH 4y agoCan't you just have an independent committee draw the electoral boundaries, like what happens in several other democracies?
- buywarbonds 4y agoA committee with that kind of power is never going to be independent
- YPPH 4y agoGerrymandering is pretty much considered a non-issue in Australia. The boundaries are drawn by an electoral authority which is fiercely independent. The extent of politicisation of all different aspects of society, from electoral authorities, to courts, to sheriffs and DAs really seems to be a problem unique to America, I'm afraid.
- alsaaro 4y agoNot if the Supreme Court rules that the Constitution requires active approval by the legislature, not laws creating a legal framework passed by the legislature. For example many states require electors for the electoral college to be allocated by law, a partisan legislature may simply appoint electors for their preferred candidates, even if that candidate "loses" the election.
- _-david-_ 4y agoHow is this independent committee chosen and how do you ensure they are independent?
- alsaaro 4y agoCalifornia already uses a committee like this, so do other states.
- perryizgr8 4y agoAs noted above, many countries in the world do this. But that is not the question. The question is how are the members of this committee chosen and how do you ensure it is independent?
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- erichocean 4y agoCalifornia is not a good example of political independence: they have a super majority of Democrats in all branches of government. "Independence" means variations on the Left; the Right can be completely ignored as they are politically powerless—largely due to ~1M Right-leaning voters exiting California for over a decade now.
- _-david-_ 4y agoWould you mind explaining the California process and how they ensure independence?
- cafard 4y agohttps://ballotpedia.org/Redistricting_in_Iowa https://ballotpedia.org/Redistricting_in_Iowa
- _-david-_ 4y agoDoesn't seem that independent. They are literally appointed by the legislature / members of the legislature. > one member selected by the majority leader of the Iowa State Senate > one member selected by the majority leader of the Iowa House of Representatives > one member selected by the minority leader of the Iowa State Senate >one member selected by the minority leader of the Iowa House of Representatives >one member selected by the first four members