June 27th, 2019 by WCBC Radio

The United States Supreme Court Wednesday ruled that partisan gerrymandering is a political question, and that the courts do not have a role to play in reviewing the claims.

One of the cases was brought by seven Republican voters in our congressional district, Maryland's 6th.  Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the court has "no commission to allocate political power and influence in the absense of a constitutional directive or legal standards to guide us in the exercise of such authority."

The court's liberal wing dissented in the 5-4 ruling, with Justice Elena Kagan writing that technology had made the practice easier.

The decision could be key in the redrawing of district lines following the 2020 census.

The entire opinion is available here.

Representative David Trone (MD-06) released the statement below following the Supreme Court disposition of Benisek v. Lamone: 

“We need a national standard to end partisan gerrymandering. Now that the Court has decided that it won’t take a role in addressing this issue, the Senate must pass legislation to fix this problem once and for all. 

“House Democrats have already done this. We’ve passed H.R. 1, the For the People Act, which would end the corrosive practice of politicians picking their voters instead of voters picking their politicians. Senator Mitch McConnell should bring this legislation to a vote immediately.

“As a country we must strive towards a national solution to end gerrymandering and other practices that put the interest of politicians over the will of the people. I will continue to do this in my capacity as a representative and support policies that benefit all of the people of Maryland and the United States, regardless of their political affiliations.”