The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled on Thursday that federal courts may not block partisan gerrymandering. It was a 5-4 decision that fell along partisan lines: read GOP.
Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the opinion of the court. He wrote: “We conclude that partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts.”
Justice Kagan, Justice Ginsberg, Justice Breyer, and Justice Sotomayor joined together in dissenting the ruling.
Kagan wrote: “For the first time ever, this Court refuses to remedy a constitutional violation because it thinks the task beyond judicial capabilities. And not just any constitutional violation. The partisan gerrymanders in these cases deprived citizens of the most fundamental of their constitutional rights: the rights to participate equally in the political process, to join with others to advance political beliefs, and to choose their political representatives.”
She added, “In so doing, the partisan gerry-manders here debased and dishonored our democracy, turning upside-down the core American idea that all governmental power derives from the people.”
Read the full decision here.