Friday, December 23, 2011
State redistricting maps pre-cleared by Justice
Posted by Scott Henry @ScottTheHenry on Fri, Dec 23, 2011 at 6:40 PM
Count this as a lump of coal in the Democrats' stockings
The U.S. Department of Justice today announced that the political reapportionment maps drafted by state Republicans over the past few months have received pre-clearance, the important first step toward official adoption.
The news apparently took disappointed Dems a bit by surprise, according to a press release sent out minutes ago:
"Republicans are attempting to use the Voting Rights Act to resegregate Georgia. The Voting Rights Act prohibits racial discrimination of any kind. The GOP-approved maps appear to be systematic in their targeting of White Democrats and harmful in their outcome," said Sen. Horacena Tate, chair of the Senate Democratic Reapportionment Committee.
Democrats had previously complained that the GOP was redrawing districts in an effort to unseat white Democrats, a charge that, if true, is both pretty sneaky and disgustingly cynical. Sneaky, because it would allow them to steer clear of violating the Voting Rights Act's prohibition against diluting black voting strength, as in the bad old days of Jim Crow. Cynical, because it means the GOP is intentionally seeking to create a situation where the state's political representation is dividing into white (Republican) and black (Democrat). I'll let you ruminate on the implications of that on your own.
But even if that's not the GOP's goal, the fact is that the new maps would serve to further entrench incumbents, both white and black. Even if you don't support the notion of hard term limits, doing anything to make it even easier for elected officials to hang on to their seats is a step in the wrong direction — especially when you consider some of the clowns we now have in the Legislature.
The Democrats still seem to think they have a shot at getting a judge to reject or modify the GOP maps: "In previous years, the DOJ has pre-cleared Georgia's maps only to have the courts intervene following additional litigation and demand new maps be drawn under their supervision." However, since the maps have already been signed into law by Gov. Deal, they likely will be used for the 2012 elections. After that, it could get very tricky to change them.
Comments (6)
Showing 1-6 of 6
The irony is those maps that were thrown out as illegal were drawn up and passed....by Democrats. There are no valid grounds on which to appeal these. The last ones were thrown out because the Democrats in the first map violated the Voting Rights Act and then in their most recent illegal map (as found by the federal court) to have violated the Constitution's one man, one vote rule. The GOP does neither of these.
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@ Gabriel Sterling
Let's not forget that 2001 rejected maps were prepared by Gov. Roy Barnes and his associates. He tried to do an end run around the US DOJ by getting the maps approved by the DC District Court, but it didn't work. Give the Republicans credit for not trying to do the same around a Democrat-dominated US DOJ.
What about the mayor taking "donations" for airport concessions. Deal = Reed!
We should have had Norwood! Anybody but Reed....
TRUTH SERUM PS: CONSERVATIVE BLACK DEMS COULD CARE LESS ABOUT LIBERAL WHITES....LOOK AT FULCO COMM FOR EXAMPLE! EMMA DARNELL AND CO!
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