Gerry Mandering Is Out Of Control
Reason magazine|May 2018

Computers could be the key to resolving partisan fights over congressional boundaries.

Eric Boehm
Gerry Mandering Is Out Of Control

FOR WEEKS THIS winter, Pennsylvania flirted with a full-blown constitutional crisis.

In January, the Democrat-controlled state Supreme Court sided with activists from the League of Women Voters and ordered state legislators to redraw the state’s congressional district map. GOP lawmakers, who had created the boundaries in 2011 during the once-per-decade reapportionment process, had engaged in a heavy dose of gerrymandering—the practice of drawing district lines intentionally to favor one party over another. Not surprisingly, Republicans objected to the court order, even threatening to impeach some of the state high court’s justices. The two branches of government appeared to be deadlocked, with each determined to check what it saw as partisan opportunism on the part of the other.

Republican lawmakers in the General Assembly blinked first, offering a new set of district lines on February 9. It was promptly rejected by Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat. A week later, the state Supreme Court produced its own map, drawn by Stanford Law School’s Nathaniel Persily. Republicans howled that the court had unconstitutionally usurped a legislative power and asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.

For now, uncertainty reigns.

Even when the crisis in Pennsylvania is eventually resolved, deeper issues regarding electoral district lines are likely to persist. Around the country, courts and independent redistricting commissions have been called upon. But so far, the big questions that haunt every such dispute—What makes a district gerry­ mandered? How do you draw a truly neutral map?—have proven surprisingly difficult to answer.

At least, that is, by human beings.

Esta historia es de la edición May 2018 de Reason magazine.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

Esta historia es de la edición May 2018 de Reason magazine.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

MÁS HISTORIAS DE REASON MAGAZINEVer todo
Libertarianism From the Ground Up
Reason magazine

Libertarianism From the Ground Up

ARGUMENTS FOR LIBERTARIANISM typically take two forms. Some libertarians base their creed on natural rights-the idea that each individual has an inborn right to self-ownership, or freedom from aggression, or whatever-and proceed to argue that only a libertarian political regime is compatible with those rights.

time-read
5 minutos  |
January 2025
Lawlessness and Liberalism
Reason magazine

Lawlessness and Liberalism

THE UNITED STATES is notorious both for mass incarceration and for militarized police forces.

time-read
5 minutos  |
January 2025
Politics Without Journalism
Reason magazine

Politics Without Journalism

THE 2024 CAMPAIGN WAS A WATERSHED MOMENT FOR THE WAY WE PROCESS PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

time-read
10+ minutos  |
January 2025
EVERY BODY HATES PRICES
Reason magazine

EVERY BODY HATES PRICES

BUT THEY HELP US DECIDE BETWEEN BOURBON AND BACONATORS.

time-read
10+ minutos  |
January 2025
The Great American City Upon a Hill Is Always Under Construction
Reason magazine

The Great American City Upon a Hill Is Always Under Construction

AMERICA'S UTOPIAN DREAMS LEAD TO URBAN EXPERIMENTATION.

time-read
10 minutos  |
January 2025
Amanda Knox Tells Her Own Story
Reason magazine

Amanda Knox Tells Her Own Story

\"OUR CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM RELIES UPON OUR OWN IGNORANCE AND THE FACT THAT WE DON'T KNOW WHAT OUR RIGHTS ARE.\"

time-read
10+ minutos  |
January 2025
Trade Policy Amnesia
Reason magazine

Trade Policy Amnesia

WHILE HE WAS interviewing for the job, President Joe Biden demonstrated an acute awareness of how tariffs work. It's worrisome that he seems to have forgotten that or, worse, chosen to ignore it-since he's been president.

time-read
2 minutos  |
January 2025
Civil Liberties Lost Under COVID
Reason magazine

Civil Liberties Lost Under COVID

WHEN JOE BIDEN was sworn in as president in January 2021, he had good reason to be optimistic about the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic.

time-read
2 minutos  |
January 2025
Bye, Joe
Reason magazine

Bye, Joe

AMERICA'S 46th president is headed out the door. After a single term marked by ambitious plans but modest follow-through, Joe Biden is wrapping up his time in office and somewhat reluctantly shuffling off into the sunset.

time-read
1 min  |
January 2025
Q&A Mark Calabria
Reason magazine

Q&A Mark Calabria

IF YOU HAVE a mortgage on your home, the odds are that it's backed by one of two congressionally chartered, government-sponsored enterprises (GSES), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

time-read
3 minutos  |
January 2025