DeSantis' redistricting map in Florida is unconstitutional and must be redrawn, judge says
DeSantis' redistricting map in Florida is unconstitutional and must be redrawn, judge says
A judge says that a Florida redistricting plan pushed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis violates the state constitution.
It'll go down just like Ohio. They were told they needed to redistrict, they drew a map, they were told it was unconstitutional and to redraw it, they redrew it, it was deemed unconstitutional and they were told to redraw it, it was deemed unconstitutional and they were told to redraw it. They then were out of time and used the 1st unconstitutional map for the election.
Yeah at a certain point they need to have a constitutional map handed to them
The issue is that many states task the legislature with drawing the map. The legislature gets to pick who voted for them. If they make an unconstitutional one, they just have to draw more unconstitutional ones until there is no time left. If the Court tried to do it themselves because of the legislature's failure, they can sue because that responsibility was directly assigned to them. They need to take that responsibility away from the legislature in their Constitution. This should happen in every state.
See, THIS. Is the kind of thing AI should actually be being used for.
They know they'd be completely screwed if things were fair, and not stacked in their favor.
Of course, which is why they (republicans) have been working so hard to dismantle free and fair elections. They know they can't win if things are fair.
If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.
David Frum
That one pisses me off so much. Democrats were working with them on a legal one. Republicans hummed and hawed that doing the assessment of it would put them over the deadline so instead they should just go with the last unconstitutional one.
Ohio doesn't actually care if it's policy is constitutional or not. The way school districts are funded was found unconstitutional back in the 90s.nothing has changed.
I'm glad I left reddit for other platforms where thoughtlessly cynical takes are also upvoted to the top.
What's cynical about thinking Republicans who drew unconstitutional maps in Florida will pull the same shit Republicans in other states have gotten away with?
What else has ever happened? There has never been any sort of penalty for doing this, they just get away with it. What else is there to do but be cynical.
Let me keep track of the most recent gerrymandering rulings: Republican maps violate constitution. Republican maps violate constitution. Republican maps violate constitution.
Outcome: Republicans re-submit maps that violate the constitution.
Judiciary: Well, it's close to an election, we can't make them change it now.
Ad nauseum.
Abolish the concepts of districts and make all elections state wide. Can't gerrymander the entire state now can ya?
You fuck around and you lose your stupid "district" privileges.
Is this a serious suggestion? I'm having a hard time thinking how it would work. I'm guessing each person can vote for every representative "slot"?
Can't gerrymander the entire state now can ya?
Wyoming might have something to say about that...
They have exactly one district, right? They simply don't have enough liberals there.
Wyoming is a shit state tho. Actually scratch that the nature part is great. Too bad we all can't move there and take over two senators. Only need a few thousand voting age non fascists to move in right?
The state SC said that in Ohio, but the GOP ignored them,and the state SC took their balls off, and did nothing about it.
Yeah, state GOPs are figuring out that if they just ignore their state supreme courts, the two outcomes are: the opposition appeals to the federal Supreme Court with the same, or worse, outcome, or... nothing.
The states that can are at least addressing gerrymandering through ballot initiatives and state constitutional amendments. Ohio is on track for this. Ohioans shot down the attempts at undermining their ballot initiative process, and are now attempting to get a citizen redistricting commission on the 2024 ballot. We'll see how it goes.
For more context in this article as well, the judge Lee Marsh was appointed by Rick Scott, a Republican
I'm sure the next one will totally be legal. And then the next one which will be too late to change. /s
Funny how the party of patriotism and constitutional originalism keeps getting caught breaching the constitution.
As always: “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.”
A big thanks to Marc Elias and his law firm for fighting for democracy. If you're on Mastodon his account is worth a follow to see all the fights they're taking for voting rights. https://mas.to/@marcelias/110997370778062859
So, they took a page out of Alabama's "Modern Jim Crow" map. Sigh. I'm afraid we (as I am an Alabamian) will use it to bring to SCOTUS to strike down whats left of the Voting Rights Act. If only the "email lady" had won in 2016, we would have a scotus that would actually DO something about this gerrymandering and VRA shenanigan nonsense.
The best quote for this situation comes from the video game character QBert: "$#@!".
Just change the constitution until it fits their needs…
Had to see this coming and SCOTUS already ruled on similar maps. I say this ruling hopefully sticks.
Oh no. /s
Draw a single unconditional map, you lose the right to draw it and it goes to an independent group who'll do it properly.
Don't give these fascists another chance when they do something unconstitutional.
Don't have districts, have proportional elections.
Realistically, geographical representation is important. The low population, rural areas of any state deserve to have a voice, too. Just, not an outsized, disproportionate one that a lot of these shitty maps give them.
Or have proportional votes on bills directly. Cut out all the distortion, make the will of the people law.
I mean it should always be some kind of removed 3rd party drawing the lines. But nobody in power wants to give that power up.
Needs to be enforced by an independent party, and as we saw in Ohio, the GOP will just go, "Nah, we think we'll keep it."