Audio of the 2019 opinion of the Supreme Court in Rucho v. Common Cause.

A three-judge District Court ruled that North Carolina's 2016 congressional district map was the product of partisan gerrymandering, enjoining the state from using the map after November 2018. North Carolina Republicans appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.

In a 5-4 opinion, split along their own ideological and partisan lines, the court held that partisan gerrymandering claims are not justiciable because they present a political question beyond the reach of the federal courts. However, the majority opinion is 34 pages long - which seems like an awfully long reach for an argument that is beyond their reach. A significant portion of these pages seem to argue that partisan gerrymandering is simply the way it is in American politics and that, unless such gerrymandering is racial and in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, it's all just part of the game. Now, that's a lot of arguing against a claim that the majority holds is simply none of their business.

In the next episode I'll be reading the dissenting opinion in this case in which the minority called-out the Court for ignoring the opportunity to address a critical question involving the violation of “the most fundamental of . . . constitutional rights: the rights to participate equally in the political process."

Access this SCOTUS opinion and other essential case information here.

Music by Epidemic Sound.