The Supreme Court on Monday sidestepped the issue of partisan gerrymandering, finding procedural grounds to rule against Democratic voters in Wisconsin and Republican voters in Maryland challenging their state maps.
The justices ruled narrowly against a group of Democratic voters in Wisconsin who challenged the state’s 2011 redistricting plan as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander in a case known as Gill v. Whitford.
The court said the voters lacked standing to challenge the state’s entire map and remanded the case back down to the lower court to give them an opportunity to prove how they were injured.
The voters alleged Republican legislators unfairly and strategically put them at a disadvantage, but in delivering the opinion of the court, Chief Justice John Roberts said the plaintiff’s alleged harm, which is the dilution of their vote power, is an injury that is specific to their voting district.
“Remedying the individual voter’s harm, therefore, does not necessarily require restructuring of all the state’s legislative districts,” he said….