2.7 Gerrymandering

1. The Supreme Court (SCOTUS) might try to avoid this case, why do they have to hear it? Though they are hesitant to look into this, they have to because of regulations on these voting rights cases. Additionally, because of gerrymandering, the districts are given an unfair advantage or disadvantage. 

2. How can Trump impact the outcome of this case - in the event that it wasn't decided this year?Because Trump won the presidency, he has the power to appoint a new supreme court justice, thus altering the progress they are making. 

3. How big do Democrats have to win national elections in order to actually win control of the House? Democrats have to win by nine popular percentage points to win control of the House. 

4. Why has SCOTUS been unwilling to weigh in on partisan gerrymandering before? The people on the Supreme Court don’t want to seem undemocratic and unfair, or disrespectful to their representatives. 

5. Why does SCOTUS look bad for intervening in Bush V Gore? Since SCOTUS basically picked the Republican president in this election, they are weary to intervene anymore. 

6. How does the lack of political parties during the writing of the Constitution allow for political parties to take advantage of the current laws in place? The Framers did not take into consideration political parties, so the judges are now left to pick sides and judge democracy. 

7. Why have judges in the past found it so difficult to come up with a solution for partisan gerrymandering?  (They don't like gerrymandering, but don't have a solution - why?) They don’t want to involve themselves with the elections because they want to remain fair and unbiased when judging cases. Additionally, they must decide which group should be helped.

8. What do the new litigants mean when they use the term "wasted votes"? Wasted votes is used to determine party dominance in a certain district, so the opposition is so small that it doesn’t really matter who they vote for the majority will win. 

9. Why is Wisconsin a particularly good place to try their ideas? Districts  are already Republican, so the minority can’t gerrymander their way into a higher position. 

10. If gerrymandering is struck down by SCOTUS, who feels the effects immediately? When would most people feel the effects of the decision? Wisconsin will be impacted first of course, and then when the census comes around, redistricting will be an issue.