… One key question before the Supreme Court is whether there are standards to detect an extreme partisan gerrymander. During oral arguments this year, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. asked, “How do you determine whether [a particular plan] is constitutional?”
In fact, the five federal courts that have struck down gerrymanders that they deemed partisan have shown that social science provides manageable standards to evaluate both undue partisan intent by mapmakers and partisan bias in the effects of a districting plan. Thus, courts have the tools they need to detect extreme gerrymanders. CONT.
Chris Warshaw (George Washington U.), Monkey Cage