Justice Kennedy's Beauty Pageant
The partisan gerrymandering beauty pageant is returning to the Supreme Court next fall for a limited engagement for an audience of one: Justice Anthony Kennedy. Whether or not Kennedy sees something he likes will go a long way toward determining whether courts will pay a role in reining in some of the most partisan activity in American politics.
On Monday the Supreme Court , a case considering the constitutionality of the Wisconsin Republican legislature’s state assembly districts, which greatly favor Republicans over Democrats despite near parity in support in the state. As the challengers to Wisconsin’s, “Wisconsin’s Assembly … bears no resemblance to its evenly split electorate. In 2012, Republicans won a supermajority of sixty seats (out of ninety-nine) while the statewide vote. In 2014 and 2016, Republicans extended their advantage to sixty-three and sixty-four seats, respectively, even though the statewide vote remained nearly tied.”
