It was as inevitable as it’s silly: The Division of Justice is placing its thumb on the size within the redistricting wars, suing California over its redrawn congressional map. Foolish California! Solely purple states can redistrict mid-decade for partisan achieve. It’s proper there within the Structure. Or not.
The DOJ has joined a lawsuit introduced earlier this month by California Republicans who had been unhappy over Proposition 50, the poll measure that voters handily accredited earlier this month and that permits California to redraw its Home map.
As a bonus, California Republicans had even employed the Dhillon Regulation Group to deal with their swimsuit! Sure, as within the agency based by Harmeet Dhillon, who now heads the Civil Rights Division on the DOJ—a gig she received due to her zeal to suppress votes.
Nicely, not white votes. Or Republican votes.
The DOJ’s movement to intervene makes certain to notice that Dhillon is recused. Even this DOJ is aware of a courtroom may take situation with that. However forgive us if we don’t take too significantly the notion that Dhillon can be solely walled off from this swimsuit. This isn’t a DOJ recognized for its moral habits. Relatively, it’s a retribution machine run by individuals who will give President Donald Trump something he needs.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks throughout a marketing campaign occasion for Proposition 50 on Nov. 1 in Los Angeles.
The allegations within the California GOP’s criticism—and the rationale for the zeal with which the DOJ hopped in—boil right down to this: When California mapmakers mentioned drawing districts, they mentioned complying with the Voting Rights Act and creating Latino-majority districts. Due to this fact, it violates the 14th and fifteenth amendments as a racial gerrymander.
Wouldn’t it shock you to know that any allegations about this are imprecise at finest? As Matt Barreto, a Democratic pollster who teaches political science on the College of California, Los Angeles, put it, “This Republican lawsuit is saying just because you said the word ‘Latino’ or the word ‘Asian,’ your map should be thrown out.”
Sadly, we’re all conscious that for each the DOJ and the Supreme Courtroom’s conservative majority, even the sketchiest invocation of race could also be sufficient.
After all, Texas’s mid-decade redistricting is okay in all this because it redrew its maps to make sure a political consequence.
That is the place we at the moment are, so far as voting rights—and you may thank Supreme Courtroom Chief Justice John Roberts, who has dreamed of destroying the Voting Rights Act since he was briefly pants.
In Republicans’ view, if a state follows the core rules of the VRA to make sure that districts will not be drawn in a manner that diminishes the ability of non-white voters, that’s unhealthy. However utilizing redistricting to make sure one-party rule? Good.
See, final time period, in Alexander v. South Carolina NAACP, the courtroom’s conservatives gave purple states a roadmap on how to make sure Republican management—and white management, actually. Right here’s how the Brennan Heart for Justice defined this catastrophe:
Final week’s determination in Alexander, with its broad secure harbor for partisan gerrymandering, successfully settles that drawback on the expense of voters of coloration. Gerrymanderers solely must proclaim an unfair map partisan (yay!), not racial (boo!). If a gerrymander advantages white (Republican) voters, that’s unlawful … but when the identical map may be stated to merely profit (white) Republicans, then federal courts can’t contact it.
Funnily, although, Legal professional Basic Pam Bondi doesn’t appear to have gotten the memo that she must accuse California of reverse racism or no matter. As a substitute, on Thursday, she simply yelled at Democrats.
Nevertheless, this case will inevitably attain the Supreme Courtroom, which has confirmed very adept at getting the outcomes conservatives need. So, brace your self for the chance that the courtroom will determine some method to say California’s map must be thrown out however Texas’ map will get to remain.
It’s all so transparently corrupt, nevertheless it’s the one manner the GOP can win.
