The U.S. Supreme Court’s gerrymandering decision dealt a blow to liberal activist groups, including one founded by former attorney general Eric Holder and backed by President Barack Obama.
The Court ruled 5-4 on Thursday that federal courts must stay out of partisan gerrymandering cases involving state-drawn congressional maps. The decision was a major setback for groups such as the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC), an organization backed by former president Obama and founded by former attorney general Holder.
“Excessive partisanship in districting leads to results that reasonably seem unjust,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. “But the fact that such gerrymandering is ‘incompatible with democratic principles,’ does not mean that the solution lies with the federal judiciary.”
Democrats and their financial backers have spent millions building institutions devoted to combatting the congressional maps drawn by Republican-controlled statehouses in the wake of the 2010 GOP wave. J. Christian Adams, president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation and a former Justice Department staffer under the George W. Bush and Obama administrations, said groups like the NRDC arose to undermine state legislatures.
Read more at the Washington Free Beacon.
