Partisan gerrymandering is one of the big issues before the U.S. Supreme Court this term. The question is whether gerrymandering, which has been going on for 200 years, has become so extreme that the courts should, and can, do something about it. Those urging the Court to act argue that computer technology is allowing ever more precise gerrymandering, which is locking in legislative majorities for one party, regardless of what the voters want.
Last October, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case brought by Democrats in Wisconsin, Gill v. Whitford, challenging an allegedly partisan gerrymandering plan of the Wisconsin state legislature. The Wisconsin Democrats complained that, because of the way the Republicans drew the district lines after the 2010 census, Republicans were able to win 60 of the 99 seats in the State Assembly in 2012 even though Republican candidates won 47% of the total votes for State Assembly candidates.
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