Posted on 06/28/2019 11:04:53 AM PDT by yesthatjallen
A group of California Democrats unveiled legislation Friday to place new requirements on how congressional districts are redrawn a day after the Supreme Court ruled that courts can’t resolve partisan gerrymandering claims.
The bill, led by House Rules Committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) along with Reps. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.) and Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), would require that states adopt independent redistricting commissions to draw new district maps after each decennial census.
The proposal comes one day after the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision along ideological lines, found that partisan gerrymandering claims are a political issue that courts can’t weigh in on.
“If the U.S. Supreme Court won’t fight to protect Americans’ votes, then Congress will,” Lofgren said in a statement Friday.
“Our democracy cannot function properly unless every person’s vote counts equally, and voters choose their elected officials, not the other way around. My bill would fix our broken redistricting process to ensure all voices are heard and politicians are held accountable.”
The majority of California Democrats in the House also back the bill, according to a press release.
The bill would require that states create 15-member commissions to draw congressional districts, rather than leaving the responsibility to state legislatures.
Each commission would be evenly divided among three political affiliations — the state’s majority party, minority party and an unaffiliated or minor party.
And the bill calls for a three-judge court to create and implement a plan if states fail to create the commissions or to adopt a commission’s map.
The legislation echoes provisions included in House Democrat’s anti-corruption legislative package H.R. 1, which passed the House earlier this year. However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said that he won’t bring it up for a vote on the Senate floor.
Democrats realize they've lost control of the system so they now want it to be 'independent'.
Well, there goes California..................
And of course the Democrat redistricting would be so much more fair than the Republican redistricting. It would be true to the Democracy that is the United States (in their minds), vs the Republic set out in our Constitution.
California wants to write all the laws for the USA.
I’m serious!
When has any State law from a Conservative State ever been adopted in CA?
Never has, never will.
California was gone many years ago!
However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said that he won’t bring it up for a vote on the Senate floor.
They want to tell other states what to do? Go to he!! California.....likely already there.
Why don’t they try it in California, and see how it works out first?
Congress can’t impose restrictions on states’ redistricting laws/practices. That’s why SCOTUS ruled the way they did — the issue is properly left up to the states.
Stuffing the ballot box is a NECESSITY for the RATS. Yes, they are in a panic. Cheating, lying, crime are their tools for “success” at the ballot box. Been that way since Tammany Hall....
Their bill explicitly does what the Supreme Court just said they cannot do.
They addressed the election of Representatives to Congress in the Elections Clause,cArt. I, §4, cl. 1, assigning to state legislatures the power to prescribe the “Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections” for Members of Congress, while giving Congress the power to “make or alter” any such regulations. Congress has regularly exercised its Elections Clause power, including to address partisan gerrymandering. But the Framers did not set aside all electoral issues as questions that only Congress can resolve.
They completely misunderstand the court’s ruling. It is the STATE LEGISLATURES’ place to set districts in their states, not the courts, not Congress, and not unelected bureaucrats.
Sarcasm........It’s not for everybody...............
A nice history of how we came to have congressional districts, as opposed to state-wide elections for representatives, in the first place:
http://archive.fairvote.org/?page=1724
“independent”.. yeah , right, Zoe.
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