So far, the courts are protecting the people of North Carolina against GOP attempts to rig the political system using discrimination. First, they found the 2011 Congressional redistricting unconstitutional because of racial gerrymandering. Next, they threw out the voter suppression bill meant to make voting more difficult for people who might not vote Republican, including African-Americans. Now, the legislative districts have been found to be racial gerrymanders, too.
After decades of complaining about Democratic gerrymandering and demanding an independent redistricting commission, the GOP in North Carolina drew the most egregious gerrymanders in the country. They split counties, towns, and precincts in an effort to pack Democratic-leaning African-American voters into as few districts as possible, ensuring them representation but denying them power. The result was a 10-3 GOP advantage in Congressional districts even though the Congressional vote in 2012 and 2014 was pretty evenly split. The legislative districts gave Republicans veto proof majorities in both houses.
The voter suppression bill was a package of measures carefully targeted to help shape the electorate. While Republicans like to call it a voter ID law, it was far more than that. The bill limited access to the polls in ways that disproportionally affected poor people, especially the elderly and the youngest voters. The legislature researched studies on African-American voting behavior before writing the bill.
The same legislature has repeatedly sought ways to discriminate against the LGBT community to motivate their base. They put a constitutional amendment on the ballot to codify discrimination in North Carolina. They’ve tried to deny LGBT people the right to sue for discrimination in the work place. They’ve allowed magistrates to discriminate against gay couples under the guise of “religious freedom.”
In total, the evidence shows a party that’s using discrimination as a political tool. The tactic is nothing new. Democrats used similar methods in the first half of the 20th century to maintain power. That Republicans are using the same strategies in the 21st century is more than a bit disturbing.
For decades, the GOP has been the party of “states’ rights.” In the 1950s and 1960s, that was code for Southerners who wanted to keep segregation and Jim Crow. Apparently, not much has changed today. The Republicans who claim they want the federal government out of our hair first need to show that they are responsible enough to govern without using discrimination as a tool to maintain power or to satisfy their base.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
If the districts are indeed deemed unconstitutional, will any election based on them not be unconstitutional in turn? Am I missing something?
Not every wrong has a legal remedy, or more precisely, an immediate legal remedy.
The 4th Circuit opinion in & of itself, & as it is, is (to quote Joe Biden) a big fucking deal. The legislature is now on notice that new districts will be subject to heightened scrutiny. I for one sense a swing of the pendulum.
I guess I don’t understand the legal system or the politics of North Carolina, even though I’ve lived here more than 30 years now. I don’t comprehend how it is that the Courts can rule that the current districting is discriminatory and thus illegal, yet allow those who have won in those districts to retain their seats. How does that compute? And how can we go forward using the same “illegally drawn, discriminatory” districts in the November election. None of this makes sense to me. Obviously, the current Legislature cannot be trusted to do the job of re-drawing non-discriminatory districts. However, there is plenty of time to redraw districts by a third dis-interested party appointed by said Court. If not, the State Legislature Elections could very easily be postponed, or at the very least, some other creative, nonpartisan, legal districting drawn up that meets non-discriminatory standards. In my thinking, once the system has been deemed discriminatory and not legal, then it should be abolished immediately without further ado and something new and legal put into place. But, no, this is North Carolina. We drag our feet until the sneaks worm their way into power — again.
I share your view although I know it is standard practice for courts to avoid enforcing their rulings very close to an election. I just don’t think in this case that is sufficient reason. I would like my vote and those of every other voter to be equally valued in November. It won’t be, and like you, I have zero trust in anything that the current legislature would do next spring. For evidence one need only look at their recent response to the court ruling that they had to re-do the federal districts. They did — leaving the same 10-3 outcome in place. Yes the districts look a bit neater, but the outcome is merely cosmetic. I predict we can expect more of the same next spring.
Well according to the 4th district court ruling . This election will use “declared Unconstitutional districts’ to hold the elections in anyway. because of the claim that there would not be enough time (4 months) they drew these lines in five months. I see no reason that they can’t revert back to the old map? and let the GOP take the hit for punishment.
As it stands, I can see no reason to recognize the authority of any official elected in the Unconstitutional districts in the 2016 election .
Nope. Can’t go there, Charles. The courts ruled, and they had the full weight of rule of law on their side when they ruled. You may not like it, but suck it up and move on with your life.
There are many words for citizens refusing to recognize the authority of the state. “Criminal” and “anarchist” come to mind for starters. As a reformed anarchist, may I suggest you’re way off base. Our system is built upon a brilliant, almost hydraulic system of checks and balances. The judges throwing out the illegal districts is a normal part of the process. You losing faith in the system is a terrible loss. Yes, our system works slowly, but the arc is towards justice and prosperity. Hang in there, in the US justice grinds slowly, but it grinds small. We’ll smite these bastards yet.
One of the problems with the idea of throwing out those who have won seats in unconstitutional districts is this: the terms of office are set in stone, so they end on a date certain next December. If we were to “postpone” elections, then either those in the existing seats would have to stay in them beyond their term of office, or there would come a time when the Legislature was no longer seated, and all power would rest in the hands of the governor. The governor (even if it’s Roy Cooper by then) can call the legislature into session, but only if a legislature exists.
Similarly, if we threw out the redrawn districts and reverted to the ones in use in 2011, 10 years of changes in population would be ignored, since the previous district lines were finally in place in 2005, after the Democrats drew them following the 2000 census, and redrew them twice after GOP lawsuits against them. But who would the candidates be in districts that have been completely reconfigured, like Asheville, now split between two Congressional districts where it had been the center of one?
And is there time to redraw them? Maybe so, but the same issue of who’s the candidate arises again!
Just another conundrum to deal with, obviously.
Good answer.
I have seen a computer program that uses census data to draw districts. Getting the legislature to vote it’s use would be tough.
The court has set the rules for this one, we ride it out hope for the best and get some real change after the election when we have time.
I jumped my Rep for badmouthing the court instead of taking the high road of acceptance and getting back to work to fix the problems the court had. He didn’t take it well.
“The Republicans who claim they want the federal government out of our hair first need to show that they are responsible enough to govern without using discrimination as a tool to maintain power or to satisfy their base.”
Never gonna happen, my Friend.
As soon as the Republicans were able to grab the reins of power, they took the State on a wild ride to Rightwingland, an encampment miles from the will of the people and far, far beyond the limits of sanity. Psychiatrists are stopped at the border and denied entry.
Republicans often repeat the same lie about their style of governance: that they want to get government out of our lives. It is not even remotely so. If by small government, they mean small enough to fit into every bathroom stall , every bedroom, and every uterus, then the tentacles of GOP government are microscopic but ubiquitous like gnats.
What the Republicans mean by smaller government is something different. While they want to regulate marriages, sexual conduct, bathrooms, and health decisions of each and every citizen, they do not want government controlling the amount of toxic waste that enters our air and water. They do not want the government to regulate fraudulent banking practices. They do not want our government to stop big businesses from exporting American jobs to China and India. They do not want to pay taxes even if doing so allows the state to build roads to market or to educate the upcoming workforce. The Republican do not see around the corner.
Republicans obtained the power to control the lives of North Carolinians by any means necessary. They would pack all black people into one district, if they could, to minimize the impact of black votes. They deny the franchise to black people, who fought bloody battles a few short decades ago, to secure the vote. It is incredible that Republicans can say with a straight face that they are not racist when they employ the same racist tactics used by the Klan. Only the dogs, the bullwhips, and the water hoses were missing from this latest chapter in the civil rights movement when the GOP enacted their racist agenda in North Carolina.
It doesn’t matter whether the legislature truly hates black people, gay people or the poor. If they use hatred of these groups as a tool of governance, there is no difference between the bigot and the opportunist.
Extremely well said!
I heartily agree with all these comments. This is not the state we moved to in 2007; it’s a funhouse mirror version of NC.
Very well said, Jay Ligon. I would like to post your comment directly on my FB page, attributing it to you, of course.
OK. Thank you!
Well said: thank you!
Outstanding post. May I quote you (with full attribution, of course)?
Thank you. Ok with me.
So TRUE! Excellent perspective here.
I have been astonished at the corruption and hatred expressed by NCGOP. The Super Party has been devastating to the state. Manipulating evidence and smearing a state regulator in order to allow Duke Energy’s neighbors to drink toxic water is appalling.
The pen is mightier than the dog, bullwhip, or fire hose.
that’s hitting the nail on the head, and driving it home. Good Job.
When we thought political Karma had gone into hibernation, it returns with a vengeance to bite the GOP. Hopefully, the process to return NC to sanity will continue in November. The last 6 years will go down in infamy confirming that THESE PEOPLE CANNOT GOVERN!