Supreme Court delay prompts federal judges to act over South Carolina redistricting dispute
NBCMar 23
SCOTUS Sides With South Carolina GOP in Voting Map Case
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Above: A podium sign hangs at a rally outside of the U.S. Supreme Court on October 11, 2023 in Washington, DC. Image copyright: Shannon Finney/Getty Images for Rooted Logistics/Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
The Facts
The US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) ruled 6-3 Thursday to uphold South Carolina's Republican-drawn congressional district map. This reverses a lower court's ruling that said the map was an unconstitutional gerrymandering.
The decision, written by conservative Justice Samuel Alito, said to make a racial gerrymandering case, you "must disentangle race and politics" to "prove" motivation "by race as opposed to partisanship." He added that you must presume "the legislature acted in good faith."
The Spin
Democratic narrative
This ruling is both practically and morally disgraceful. The lower federal trial court correctly found clear evidence of Black voters being pushed out of District 1, but SCOTUS decided to disregard those facts and instead greenlight continued racial discrimination. This ruling has essentially brought South Carolina back to the days of legal racially-based discrimination.
Republican narrative
Since Black voters tend to vote at about 90% Democrat, some maps end up looking like they're racially gerrymandered. In reality, they're simply based on politics. In this case, not only was the map drawn based on partisanship, but it ended up increasing the proportion of Black voters in the district. District maps should not be deemed discriminatory just because someone doesn't like their outcome.
Cynical narrative
Both Democrats and Republicans gerrymander massively, making American democracy far from fair. Election laws should change.
