The Supreme Court ruled on the Texas redistricting case this week. I don’t have much to say about the case beyond noting that the current process is screwed up and this case didn’t make it any better (or worse for that matter). There is a decent summary of the decision at SCOTUSBlog.
One comment from the decision jumped out at me though. Chief Justice Roberts stated “It is sordid business, this divvying us up by race.”
To which I emphatically agree. If segregating schools and businesses is bad, why is segregating voters good?
Which group of minorities has more power? The black citizens that make up 90% of a single congressional district or the black citizens that make up 30% of three congressional districts?
I think that the answer is clearly the second scenario. The result may end up being less black representatives, but why are black representatives required to represent a black constituency? Having more Congressmen aware of minority interests and concerns will serve minorities better than simply moving the minority from the voter to the legislature.
I’m not sure that there is a legal remedy to the current problems with districting, but my ideal solution would be to move the process out of the hands of legislatures and into a non-partisan computer of some kind.
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