"For the better part of 20 years, Republican politicians across the nation have taken advantage of whatever privileges their status as state legislators gave them to assure themselves of staying in office perpetually, or at least as long as they wanted. This has all been done at the expense of Democratic politicians and the minority groups many of them represent in Congress thanks to districts that Republicans have drawn for themselves from Texas to Florida and from West Virginia to the Dakotas."
"The GOP operatives never felt the slightest embarrassment or compunction about what they were doing, no matter how many times courts forced them to alter their maps and return to Square One in the gerrymandering wars. That's why it's utterly laughable for figures like Joel Coupal, head of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association or the newly elected Assemblymember Carl DeMaio,"
"So when Trump essentially ordered Abbott early this summer to turn six minority Congressional districts in the mostly minority Houston area into five White Republican districts and just one minority district, it was clearly meant as a tactic to assure continued Trump or Trumpist rule in the House of Representatives in perpetuity. Never mind that the Constitution very plainly says Congressional districts are to be drawn once every 10 years, just after the Census, and intended to last the full 10 years."
Republican state legislators have used their redistricting authority for roughly two decades to entrench themselves in office by drawing favorable districts. These maps have reduced Democratic influence and diminished minority representation across multiple states, from Texas to the Dakotas. Courts have repeatedly required map changes, but operatives persisted without apparent embarrassment. Recent moves include direct pressure from President Trump on Texas leadership to reconfigure majority-minority districts into more White Republican seats. The Constitution prescribes decennial redistricting after the Census, but partisan tactics have repeatedly undermined that principle, provoking pushback when roles reverse.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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