WASHINGTON—On news of the Supreme Court’s rulings in the related partisan gerrymandering cases of Gill v. Whitford and Benisek v. Lamone, Constitutional Accountability Center—which filed briefing on behalf of both Republican and Democratic current and former Members of Congress—issued the following reaction:

“This time, the justices should have left punting to the NFL,” said CAC President Elizabeth Wydra. “These cases go to the very heart of our democracy and the issues they raise needed to be decided, not once again delayed. That said, if there is any silver lining in today’s rulings, it is that the Court didn’t hold that partisan gerrymandering is constitutional. Instead, the fight will go on to ensure that the voters get to choose their representatives, and not the other way around. As Justice Kagan wrote, ‘partisan gerrymandering injures enough individuals and organizations in enough concrete ways to ensure that standing requirements, properly applied, will not often or long prevent courts from reaching the merits of cases like this one.’ For the sake of our democracy, when that day comes I hope the Court will, at long last, affirm that partisan gerrymandering cannot be squared with the text, history, and values of the Constitution.”

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Resources:

CAC brief on behalf of current and former Republican and Democratic Members of Congress in Gill v. Whitford: https://www.theusconstitution.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Gill_v_Whitford_Merits_Amicus_Final.pdf

CAC brief on behalf of current and former Republican and Democratic Members of Congress in Benisek v. Lamone: https://www.theusconstitution.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Benisek-v.-Lamone-Amicus-FINAL.pdf

“Justice Kennedy, The First Amendment, and Partisan Gerrymandering,” Take Care, David H. Gans, October 4, 2017: https://www.theusconstitution.org/news/justice-kennedy-the-first-amendment-and-partisan-gerrymandering/

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Now in our tenth year, Constitutional Accountability Center is a think tank, public interest law firm, and action center dedicated to fulfilling the progressive promise of the Constitution’s text and history. Visit the new CAC website at www.theusconstitution.org.

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