Activist judges

The GOP has a stranglehold on our democracy.

For most of this decade, North Carolina Democrats have complained that the Republican-led legislature has aggressively altered the state’s voting rules and redrawn electoral maps to secure an overwhelming partisan advantage.

On Thursday, the United States Supreme Court said it couldn’t do anything about it.

[...]

The decision by the justices not to intervene in even the most blatant partisan gerrymanders was a letdown to many liberals in this evenly divided purple state.

[...]

Thursday’s 5-4 ruling means that North Carolina’s current Republican-drawn map delineating its 13 Congressional districts — a map that critics have said is among the country’s most egregious examples of hyper-partisanship — will stand. The decision could also embolden lawmakers around the country to continue to push the envelope and craft seats for their respective parties with the aid of increasingly sophisticated computer mapping tools.


The high court’s decision does not preclude state lawmakers, or Congress, from taking action to reduce partisan gerrymandering.
  NYT

It's up to the states, because Mitch McConnell precludes Congress from taking action.

In last year’s midterm elections, Democrats won 48.3 percent of the total vote in House races, and Republican candidates won 50.4 percent. But Democrats won only three of the 13 Congressional seats.

[...]

[A] state-level lawsuit in North Carolina, expected to be heard later this summer, challenges Republican-drawn state legislative districts.

[...]

[S]tates like Colorado, Michigan, Missouri and Utah [...] have set up independent redistricting commissions led by citizens in an effort to take map-drawing powers out of the hands of legislators altogether.

[...]

The redrawing did not end with Congressional districts: The Republican legislature has also changed or created the district lines for state House members, county commissioners and city council members. The legislature ordered a change to the Asheville City Council last year, converting an at-large system to one with five geographic districts, even though voters had rejected the idea three-to-one in an earlier referendum.

[...]

“I think that what happens is the electorate becomes disengaged,” [Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer] said. “They feel like the whole structure of the system is broken and doesn’t work for them, and they don’t trust in it.”

Just the way the GOP likes it, because they can't win if they don't cheat.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE: