Supreme Court

Gerrymandering Is Absolutely Unfair, But Should SCOTUS Get Involved?

The court typically wants nothing to do with cases that could paint it as a political actor ... and for good reason.

Gerrymandering Is Absolutely Unfair, But Should SCOTUS Get Involved?
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It's the practice of drawing voting districts that gives one person's vote more weight than another's. And while that sounds blatantly unfair, gerrymandering is as old as the republic itself   — it was used in the the very first congressional elections for a seat in Virginia.

The Supreme Court heard two cases in the past year — Gill v. Whitford out of Wisconsin and Benisek v. Lamone out of Maryland — that could create a landmark standard for partisan gerrymandering.

But is intervening in partisan districting a move that could paint the nation's highest court as a political actor?

In Newsy's ongoing series "Ask the Experts," Professor Jay Dow of the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy says that's a possible side effect that could make the cure worse than the disease.