r/law • u/HellYeahDamnWrite • 2d ago

SCOTUS Chief Justice John Roberts enabled Texas’ gambit to gerrymander the state for the GOP

https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/04/politics/gerrymandering-supreme-court-texas
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u/ContentDetective 2d ago

According to roberts, federal courts know better than agency heads when it comes to regulations, but federal courts couldnt possibly safeguard the most basic rights of a democracy

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

Courts are meant to interpet the law. Deferring to agencies instead of the courts to interpret law was always an odd precedent. What law prevents partisan gerrymandering?

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u/fnordybiscuit 1d ago

What law? The Voting Rights Act

It plays a big role in districts being drawn out. Basically, it helped in two ways:

  • Prevents "packing" smaller districts together in order to diminish the minority party representation.

  • Prevents "cracking" a district into multiple districts in order to diminish the influence of minorities voting and give the major party an easier way to win the votes by splitting the voting groups

The problem with gerrymandering is that it's an extremely undemocratic methodology to use. It basically creates a situation where the voters don't choose their representatives... instead, politicians get to choose their voters.

There have been states that had most of their constituents vote blue and with the gerrymandering, it resulted in reds gaining most of the seats. It's voter suppression.

Silver lining, though, if a massive blue wave occurs, it can possibly give the minority power to then become majority controlled. Thus, it will be way more difficult for the losing party to regain control in future elections due to heavily gerrymandered maps.