America won one and lost one this week in the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a 5-4 decision along traditional conservative-liberal party lines, the Supreme Court ruled that partisan redistricting is a political question – not reviewable by federal courts. The court’s conservatives said the judicial branch can’t judge if extreme gerrymandering violates the Constitution.
“We conclude that partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts,” Chief Justice Roberts wrote for the conservative majority. “Federal judges have no license to reallocate political power between the two major political parties, with no plausible grant of authority in the Constitution, and no legal standards to limit and direct their decisions.”
Roberts noted that excessive partisanship in the drawing of districts does lead to results that “reasonably seem unjust,” but he said that does not mean it is the court’s responsibility to find a solution.
That puts the question back on the legislative branch, and on individual states, to police redistricting efforts.