Courthouse News: Time for Supreme Court to Tackle Partisan Gerrymandering, Poll Shows

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With the Supreme Court set to hear a potentially landmark-setting case on partisan gerrymandering next month, a poll released Monday shows that most Americans want the judicial branch’s input.

While just 15 percent of those surveyed said they would oppose the Supreme Court coming up with a test to find politicians have violated the Constitution by drawing legislative districts to favor their own party, 71 percent of likely voters said they would support “new, clear rules” from the country’s top court.

The numbers came Monday from the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan group that will be arguing before the justices in three short weeks against a Wisconsin legislative map that a team of federal judges found unconstitutional.

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Emphasizing the role of public opinion in Supreme Court cases, the Campaign Legal Center’s executive director pointed to past battles over gay marriage and the death penalty.

“We think that it really matters to the justices what the people – we the people – think about the way our democracy functions,” Gerry Hebert, who argued Whitford in the lower courts, said Monday at a press conference. “And when it’s fundamentally flawed, as it is now as a result of extreme gerrymandering, that the court will pay heed to those results.”

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