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Redistricting Push Fizzles in SC 05/13 06:10
(AP) -- President Donald Trump's push to redraw the nation's U.S. House
districts received mixed results Tuesday as South Carolina senators defied his
desires but Missouri's top court upheld a new map that could help Republicans
win an additional seat in the November midterm elections.
Rather than waning, a national redistricting battle that began 10 months ago
has intensified -- inflamed by a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that weakened
the federal Voting Rights Act and provided grounds for states to try to
eliminate voting districts with large minority populations.
Republican lawmakers in Louisiana are wrestling with how politically
aggressive to be when redrawing House districts after the U.S. Supreme Court
invalidated a majority-Black district as an illegal racial gerrymander.
The ripples of the Louisiana ruling already have led to new U.S. House
districts in Tennessee and have extended to Alabama, where Republican Gov. Kay
Ivey announced an Aug. 11 special primary for four of the state's seven
congressional districts. That came after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday
overturned an order mandating use of a map with two largely Black districts.
The state plans to switch to a map passed in 2023 that has only one
majority-Black district, giving Republicans a chance to win an additional seat.
Republicans think they could gain as many as 14 seats from new House maps
enacted so far in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida and Tennessee.
Democrats, meanwhile, think they could gain six seats from new maps in
California and Utah. The Virginia Supreme Court last week struck down a
redistricting effort that could have yielded four more winnable seats for
Democrats.
Missouri court upholds split of Kansas City
Missouri was the second Republican state, after Texas, to redraw its
congressional districts at Trump's urging last year.
Tuesday's two unanimous state Supreme Court decisions, delivered just hours
after arguments, "are a complete victory for Missouri and for the people's
elected representatives," Republican Attorney General Catherine Hanaway said in
a statement.
The rulings sided "against voters in every respect," the ACLU and Campaign
Legal Center, which represented suing voters, said in a joint statement. "This
state -- and our democracy -- are worse off for this outcome."
Attorneys challenging Missouri's new map had focused on changes to a Kansas
City-based district long represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver,
who previously was the city's first Black mayor.
The new map takes a compact urban district that covered 20 miles (32
kilometers) and two counties and stretches it 200 miles (322 kilometers) over
15 counties, distorting it "into a sprawling behemoth that cuts clear across
the state to unite territories that share nothing in common," said Abha Khanna,
a partner in the Elias Law Group, a Democratic firm.
But the Supreme Court upheld a March decision by a lower court, which found
the map as a whole satisfied the compactness requirement even though the Kansas
City district looks less compact. No Missouri court has ever struck down a
congressional map for not being compact, said attorney John Gore, who defended
the districts on behalf of the Republican Party.
A second case heard by the high court centered on whether the new map took
effect in December, as asserted by Hanaway and Republican Secretary of State
Denny Hoskins, or whether it should have been suspended when referendum
signatures were submitted.
To suspend the map before validating the signatures would let activists
temporarily undercut laws by submitting boxes of fraudulent signatures,
Missouri Solicitor General Lou Capozzi argued.
But to not immediately suspend the map "would dilute the referendum right,
if not destroy it altogether," said attorney Jonathan Hawley, arguing for
voters who sued.
The Supreme Court agreed with Republican officials, who contend the new
districts can be suspended only after Hoskins determines the petition meets
constitutional requirements and has enough valid signatures. Hoskins has until
Aug. 4, the day of Missouri's primary elections, to make that determination.
South Carolina senator sees risk in redistricting
Trump urged South Carolina to redraw its congressional districts ahead of
the November elections in an attempt to help Republicans win another seat.
A House committee endorsed a map Tuesday that could eliminate the state's
only Democratic-held seat, and the chamber voted previously to let lawmakers
return after their regular work ends Thursday to further consider redistricting.
But the Senate had to give permission too. The 29-17 vote failed, coming
just two votes short of the two-thirds needed, as five Republicans joined all
Democrats in opposition.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey said he expects redistricting
to come up again in some way before the June 9 primary.
Trump had said on social media that he was closely watching the
redistricting vote, urging South Carolina senators to "be bold and courageous"
and to delay the congressional primaries so new districts can be drawn.
Although Republicans have a supermajority in the chamber, some GOP senators
weren't sure the proposed map would guarantee the party could unseat longtime
Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn. They also said it could push enough Democrats
into other districts to backfire, resulting in a 5-2 or even a 4-3 Republican
split.
Massey acknowledged the pressure from Trump but said he doesn't like being
asked to bend to someone's will instead of doing what's best for his state.
"I got too much Southern in my blood," Massey said. "I've got too much
resistance in my heritage."
Louisiana teen recounts family's fight
A state Senate committee was considering how to reshape congressional
districts -- currently represented by four Republicans and two Democrats -- in
response to the Supreme Court ruling.
Republican-backed options aimed to eliminate either one or both of those
Democratic seats.
But Democrats backed a map that still would allow for two majority-Black
districts centered on Baton Rouge and New Orleans. They argued that would
comply with the Supreme Court's ruling while retaining fairness.
As a hearing stretched late into Tuesday night, Josiah Hardy, a high school
sophomore, told lawmakers that his great-grandfather fought for civil rights
and equal representation in Louisiana when Black voters were disenfranchised.
"Why are we still fighting the same fight decades later," Hardy said. "My
great-grandfather believed democracy is stronger when more people are included,
not excluded. Further generations should not have to keep fighting the same
battles for fairness and voting rights that leaders before us have already
fought."
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