Cartography
In a recent open letter, Michael Tiemann[1] asks “Do we really want to live in a state where petty jealousies and political score-keeping trump teamwork, good faith, and mutual benefit?” To which a cross-section of North Carolina politicians reply, “Hell yah!,” “You bet!” and “Huzzah!”
Today’s News attempts to briefly outline conditions in the state of North Carolina as they relate to Anita Earls, legislative politics, the North Carolina State Supreme Court, the 8th Federal Appeals Court, and the US Supreme Court. Oh, where to start?
Earls, a Black civil rights activist and State Supreme Court Justice, is currently under investigation for telling the truth, which, as we all know, is frowned upon by fellow judges. It creates an unreasonable perception on the part of litigants that judges might be expected to be forthcoming. Clarence Thomas’s latest travails are a prime example of what happens when the truth comes out.
Earls’ offense was manifest: She had the temerity to suggest that the State Supreme Court is biased in that five of the seven members are Republicans, and that they vote as a conservative bloc. OMG. Apparently someone who has to run for election to a judicial seat in a partisan election should certainly know better than to make partisan claims. Earls sought an injunction in Federal Court to stop the investigation by the state’s Judicial Standards Commission, asserting that the inquest violated her so-called First Amendment Rights. Federal District Court Judge William Osteen, Jr. declined to intervene. (Fun fact – Osteen Jr. was appointed by Bush Jr. to fill the seat vacated by Osteen Sr.)
All of which leads one to ask, in a so-called “purple” state – as the Old North State purports to be, with a nearly even split between libtard communists and good guys with guns – how is it that the legislature, the Supreme Court, and soon (gawd willin’) the Executive – have come to be dominated by Republicans? (Fun fact: Berger Sr., President of the State Senate in a supermajority ultra-right legislature, is the father of Berger Jr., State Supreme Court Justice.)
Cartography.
As soon as the Republicans got hands on the reins of legislative power, they began to redraw the district maps to spread GOP power as widely as possible and to dilute or concentrate Democrats’ control. They presently have a 11-3 (maybe 10-4) advantage. Note that partisan gerrymandering is legal, but the old Voting Rights Act still has one tooth left — racial discrimination is a no-no. The legislature has rigged the maps over and again, to great effect, despite the fact that much of what they do is a violation of the VRA, a point that repeatedly falls on indifferent if not deaf ears. The whole history of gerrymandering in the USA is a spanking good read, but no time for that here. Suffice to say that North Carolina is presently the most gerrymandered state in the country.
As mentioned last week, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, following a subtle hint from SCOTUS Justices Gorsuch and Thomas (to the effect of “You Should Totally Do This!”) has decided that private parties should not be allowed to sue for their rights under the Voting Rights Act, just because. Such suits can still be filed by the Department of Justice, but that all depends on who is in the Oval Office, doesn’t it? The issue will ultimately be decided by — you guessed it — a very partisan US Supreme Court. Set and match.
Democracy doesn’t die in the dark. It simply gets mapped out of existence.
[1] Former CTO, Red Hat, Former Chair of UNCSA Board of Trustees, Former Visiting Fellow, UNC School of Information and Library Science