Thank you North Carolina

Today three judges on the North Carolina Supreme court ruled that politically partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional under the North Carolina constitution. What a beautiful sunrise! Perhaps the rays of this bright, clear ruling will light up the dark partisan courtroom of our nation's supreme court.

These judges, two Democrats and one Republican, voted unanimously to redo the voting districts of North Carolina. In their ruling they said that the partisan districts that allowed the Republican candidates to win a majority of seats in spite of getting fewer votes. The New York Times said,

"The existing maps were so effective that they helped entrench Republican majorities even when Democrats won more votes statewide. In 2018, Republican candidates for North Carolina’s House of Representatives won less than 50 percent of the two-party statewide vote, but walked away with 65 seats to the Democrats’ 55. Republican candidates for the State Senate also won a minority of the popular vote, and still took 29 of 50 seats."

The North Carolina decision said that the 2017 district plan violated the North Carolina's Free Election Clause, violated the North Carolina's Constitution's Equal Protection Clause and violated the Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Assembly clauses. In supporting their opinion that gerrymandering was unconstitutional under the North Carolina Constitution they said:

"If unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering is not checked and balanced by judicial oversight, legislators elected under one partisan gerrymandering will enact new gerrymanders after each decennial census, entrenching themselves in power anew decade after decade. When the North Carolina Supreme Court first recognized the power to declare state statutes unconstitutional, it presciently noted that absent judicial review, members of the General Assembly could "render themselves the Legislators of the State for life, without any further election of the people." Bayard v. Singleton, 1 N.Cl 5,7(1787)"

Once again we have seen the political leaning of the Supreme Court of the United States. It's refusal to uphold a fundamental value of democracy - one person, one vote - even if not specifically stated in the Constitution, is a travesty and threatens our democracy, just as the judges of the North Carolina Supreme Court so clearly stated in the above quote.

Justice Kagan dissented strongly with the majority opinion in the Supreme Court ruling. She said:

"Of all times to abandon the Court’s duty to declare the law, this was not the one. The practices challenged in these cases imperil our system of government. Part of the Court’s role in that system is to defend its foundations. None is more important than free and fair elections. With respect but deep sadness, I dissent.”

America is the beacon of Democracy for the world. Our democracy is being threatened by the Republican Party, who would rather destroy America rather than lose power. It is time for American politicians of both parties to reinstate fair and free elections in America.

In the most recent edition of The Nation, Eric Foner a historian at Columbia University who has written extensively about Reconstruction said of the Supreme Court's decision:

"In the Supreme Court’s recent decision refusing to interfere with extreme partisan gerrymandering not only seriously undermines our already fragile democracy; it also brings to mind the Court’s acquiescence over a century ago in laws that denied the right to vote to millions of black Southerners."

What we are seeing in America today is the conservative white majority attempting to do to progressive voters of all colors what was done to black American after the civil war. Foner goes on to say:

At certain moments in our history, the Supreme Court has used its authority to protect constitutional rights when legislatures and Congress abdicate this responsibility. At other times, as one lawyer wrote in 1890, the Court becomes “the grave of liberty.” That seems to be where we are headed today.

Perhaps our escape from Foner's 'grave of liberty' will by the Supreme Court of the state of North Carolina. Perhaps their brave regard for the true nature of our democracy and the importance of supporting fair and free elections in which one person gets one vote, will light a fire under the ruthlessly conservative judges on our nation's highest court. Perhaps the decisions in the cases Common Cause vs. Rucho and Citizens United will be reversed as the black stains they are on the parchment of the constitution of the United States.