KAGAN’S BLUEPRINT FOR STATES TO FIGHT PARTISAN GERRYMANDERING | Larry Lessig’s Plan To Blow Up The Electoral College
September 5, 2019
SHOW NOT TELL
|“The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in 2019’s Rucho v. Common Cause was a painful setback for voting rights advocates. By a 5–4 vote, SCOTUS slammed the federal courthouse door on partisan gerrymandering claims, ruling that they cannot be brought under the U.S. Constitution. But Rucho had a silver lining in JUSTICE ELENA KAGAN’S powerful dissent, which showed state judges how to kill off the practice under their own constitutions.” That’s Mark Joseph Stern with Slate explaining how North Carolina used Kagan’s blueprint to invalidate partisan gerrymandering earlier this week — something other states can do to fight against the practice in spite of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the issue.
ED BOARD OVERTURE
|Speaking of, the Editorial Board of The New York Times also weighed in on the judgement of three North Carolina judges to throw out “some of the most egregious partisan gerrymanders in the country.” The Ed Board says those judges did “what a majority on the United States Supreme Court said was impossible only a few months ago — apply well-established legal standards to strike down some of the most egregious partisan gerrymanders in the country.”
MONEY TALKS
|Devin Dwyer with ABC News reports that the League of Women Voters today launched a “multi-million-dollar, multi-year” effort to end discriminatory gerrymandering. The group says it plans to spend $500,000 this year alone to kick off a campaign that is unprecedented in the organization’s more than 100-year history.
SPECTACULAR SPECTACULAR
|For Slate, Richard L. Hasen explains Harvard law professor LARRY LESSIG’S plan to “blow up the current Electoral College system” and how it could “backfire spectacularly.” Hasen says Lessig is playing with fire by pursuing his current plan and he concludes, “Lessig’s lawsuit might solve one Electoral College problem. Or it might open up one or two more. This is no way to pick a president or run a country.”
GO SPORTS!
|Today marks the beginning of the NFL’s centennial season, and what better way to celebrate than by participating in some good ole fashioned sports betting now legal thanks to the Supreme Court? Kevin Draper with The New York Times writes, “When the Packers and Bears kick off in Chicago on Thursday night, football fans in 12 states will be able to partake in some form of legal sports gambling. Several more states have launches in the works.” However, sports betting is only just beginning to get off the ground so it’s very likely that this NFL season won’t feel all that different. Draper says, “Fans hoping that spread will radically reshape how they watch America’s most popular betting sport will be left disappointed, at least for now.”