Malapportionment Cases News Today

Courts role is to defend its foundation. nothing is more important than free and fair elections. were still waits for the census decisions. two other cases to go. theres the case about indian tribes in oklahoma, and how much jurisdiction they have over the states land. i dont know if the census case would be the last one, but i would gisz it would by. >> my understanding is inside the court chief justice roberts is still reading decisions from the bench. its not clear if justice kagan will read ...

Surprise after the oral arguments. certainly its disappointing for those of us who have pursued litigation in this area and who think that the courts have a central role to play in putting limits on the partisan self-serving manipulation of district design. these cases were two of the most compelling, certainty the north carolina case is the most extreme example of a partisan gerrymander that the supreme court has ever seen. chief justice roberts seems to acknowledge in his majority opinion that...

Federal epps courts say they have no role to play. >> pete, do you have more? >> reporter: just a couple points. lower courts had ruled there was partisan gerrymandering in at the time ohio and michigan, so undoubtedly it will send those cases back to the lower courts to basically perform last rites on those rulings, and take those rulings away. a couple points here, at the very end of the majority pin, the court says -- we have no commission to allocate political power influence in the absence ...

The courts will not play a role in resolving it. >> well talk more about justice kagans dissent,every, but i want your overall take on the argument that cheever justice john roberts and others are making of why they felt like they could not make a determination on just how much partisan gerrymandering is too much. >> cheever roberts olympic has the doctrine, with the one man/one vote, and that doctrine says when a question has no clear judicial standards and could risk embarrassing the political...

Cases, but not the same for gerrymandering. theres just a few cases where the courts have applied the political doctrine back in the 19th century. the court said, hey, were not going to decide that, but its a very, very big deal for the court to say this dock trim which had not been used for malapportionment to racial gerrymandering is suddenly aablied, and heres another -- you asked why did the majority do it? well, the five justices, the majority believe in absolutely good faith -- and its imp...

Youre using -- >> i think ive been doing policy clarity for a long, long time now. thats really what i do. >> ali, i ask you to hold up. we do have breaking news in from the supreme court. i want to head back to washington and bring in our justice correspondent pete williams. i understand we have a decision on one of the gerrymandering he cases, one of the cry cases much the term. >> reporter: 5-4 vote along the traditional ideological lines. the supreme court has said it cannot decide the quest...

Rye districtic -- do you think thats where the action goes now? >> well, a few things. first of all, the action goes to state legislative elections in 2020 -- or -- because the next census, which is the subject of the other case were expecting this morning causes a reapportionment that will be done by and part lines will be drawn in response to that census by, in many cases, state legislatures. this means the partisan composition of those state legislatures is very, very important, because the c...

And whether something else bubbles up that could appeal to the justices. a couple points i need to make. number one, this ruling apply toss both north carolina and maryland. this is one decision that applies to both cases. they have wrapped them both together. let me read you two key parts, first from the majority opinion -- we conclude partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of federal courts. federal judges have no license to reallocate political party betwe...