Republican legislators in charge of court-ordered redistricting told us two things last week: They’ll do what’s best for themselves first and their party second.
They didn’t say they won’t mind going back to court, but that seems to be their attitude, too.
Twenty-eight state House and Senate districts were drawn with too much emphasis on race back in 2011, federal courts finally confirmed this year.
They must be fixed in time for the 2018 legislative elections. U.S. judges in Greensboro want to see new maps by next month.
Lawmakers met last week in Raleigh to get started. Republicans, holding the majority, are driving the process and determined the criteria for their work.
They won’t consider race at all, but they will heed past election results and will aim to avoid putting more than one sitting legislator in any district.
The second and third criteria are simply incumbent-protection measures. Allowing past elections to guide the construction of new districts means that a Republican district will remain a Republican one and a Democratic district will remain a Democratic one. And sitting senators and representatives won’t be berthed together. Rather, they’ll be left alone in favorable, familiar districts.
There is something undemocratic about the idea that legislators can draw their own districts for their own benefit, but that’s how it works — unless a state creates an independent redistricting commission. North Carolina legislative leaders, of both parties, have refused.
Ignoring any racial data is asking for more legal trouble. Yes, packing certain districts with as many black voters as possible ran afoul of legal scrutiny.
Republicans created these “majority-minority” districts not to guarantee that black candidates could win, because black candidates could win with far fewer black voters. They did it to drain black voters from adjoining districts, which were made more white and more Republican as a result. This strategy allowed Republicans to win far more seats than their overall vote total would indicate. Such is the power of gerrymandering.
Yet, it’s questionable whether applying the opposite approach — no consideration of race — will pass muster when a new plan is challenged in court. If it appears that black representation would be put in jeopardy, judges could say no once again.
Republicans may not mind if that happens. Any delay favors incumbents. Challengers are kept waiting until new districts are set, and they are the ones who need more time to raise money and introduce themselves to voters.
Redistricting is a set-up, just as it’s always been.
http://www.greensboro.com/opinion/n_and_r_editorials/our-opinion-what-s-best-for-us/article_46f30496-03ba-5ea7-869f-9d547096fe72.html
