by Kevin Daley A federal three-judge panel ruled Thursday that 34 state and federal district lines in Michigan are unconstitutionally gerrymandered to the benefit of Republicans. The decision comes as the Supreme Court contemplates a pair of cases from Maryland and North Carolina, which ask whether and how the federal courts should police partisan line-drawing. “Federal courts must not abdicate their responsibility to protect American voters from this unconstitutional and pernicious practice that undermines our democracy,” the decision reads. “Federal courts’ failure to protect marginalized voters’ constitutional rights will only increase the citizenry’s growing disenchantment with, and disillusionment in, our democracy, further weaken our democratic institutions, and threaten the credibility of the judicial branch.” Judge Eric Clay of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting on the panel by designation, authored the ruling. The Supreme Court has never definitively said that partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional, nor has it given lower courts guidance for which district lines are excessively partisan, and therefore unlawful. The Maryland and North Carolina cases present the latest — and some the last — opportunity for the courts to bring gerrymanders to heel. Fully aware that their ruling will turn on the Supreme Court’s forthcoming…
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