John Roberts Says Partisan Gerrymandering Is Not His Problem

In a crushing blow to voting-rights advocates, the Supreme Court today ruled that claims of partisan gerrymandering are outside its purview.

Ruling on two cases in which plaintiffs alleged that congressional districts were drawn with such exaggeratedly distorting effects that they violate the Constitution—one involving Republicans in North Carolina, the other Democrats in Maryland—the five conservative justices threw up their hands and said that while partisan gerrymandering is a problem, it isn’t their problem.

“Excessive partisanship in districting leads to results that reasonably seem unjust,” wrote Chief Justice. “But the fact that such gerrymandering is ‘incompatible with democratic principles’ does not mean that the solution lies with the federal judiciary. We conclude that partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts.”