Government

House GOP Rolls With 'States' Rights' To Defend Gerrymandering, Voter Suppression

House judiciary meeting gets heated.

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The House Judiciary committee met this morning to discuss House Resolution 1. This is the bill, touted by Democrats, that’s meant to clean away some of the corrupt and anti-Democratic excesses that people have become more aware of during the Trump administration.

One of the more important, yet controversial, aspects of HR 1 is its attempts at gerrymandering reform. The Supreme Court is afraid to act on gerrymandering, and so the legislative branch must if we are to reform the system of drawing electoral districts to protect incumbents and suppress non-white voters.

Today’s hearing was standing room only, but that didn’t stop House Republicans from attacking gerrymandering reform with the oldest saw in the book, “states’ rights.” From Courthouse News:

“The official title of this bill is the ‘For the People Act.’ This bill, though, is not for the people,” [ranking member Doug Collins (R-GA)] said in his opening statements. “This bill siphons power from state legislatures, local elected officials and voters, and it cedes power to Washington lawmakers, unelected federal judges and lawyers.”

Republicans on the committee focused on the shift of power taken from states, which they said have constitutional rights to handle elections.

I didn’t like states’ rights arguments when John C. Calhoun (D-Hell) was making them to defend the institution of slavery. I didn’t like them when George Wallace (D transitioning to R) was making them to defend segregation, and I certainly don’t like them now that Republicans are dredging them up to support voter suppression. When you are accused of violating the rights of non-whites in your state, and your only comeback is “but, Federalism,” all you are doing is proving that federalism exists to perpetuate white supremacy in whatever corners it is allowed to flourish.

The fact that House Republicans immediately went to this antebellum argument shows just how important they believe gerrymandering is towards maintaining white power in the various states. Talking about states’ rights to support gerrymandering is a self-own, or at least it would be if more people understood how Republican controlled legislatures are using that control to prop themselves and their party up against rising tide of non-white voters.

The Republican desperation to make sure white votes are more valuable than non-white votes can also be illustrated by what the House Republicans were not fighting. Ranking member Collins said that there was “a point of agreement” in HR 1’s proposal to impose ethics guidelines on the Supreme Court.

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Now I’m on record of being desperately in favor of ethics guidelines for the Supreme Court. Justice Brett had 83 ethics complaints against him dismissed, because a judicial panel determined it did not have the authority to hold a Supreme Court justice accountable. That has got to change.

BUT… as radical re-imagining of the separation of powers go, SCOTUS ethics rules is much more of a challenge to the Constitutional division of powers than gerrymandering reform. The Supreme Court is its own independent branch of government. Congress may not have the power to tell it how to behave.

Congress certainly has the power to legislate how its own members are elected. Congress can say that Congressional districts have to be determined by an independent committee of experts, not current politicians looking to get or keep a job.

If House Republicans cared about Constitutional separation of powers, their arguments would be flipped. But they don’t really care about federalism as a Constitutional principle. They care about suppressing votes so their party can survive.

That’s what this gerrymandering battle is really about. Republicans cannot win if districts are drawn fairly and everybody gets to vote. They know that. And so they’re going to fight attempts to make our electoral process more fair with every breath in their body.

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Election Reform Bill Fought Tooth-and-Nail by House Republicans [Courthouse News Service]

Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

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