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Supreme Court says they don't have to follow the constitution?

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cynatnite Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-28-06 10:16 AM
Original message
Supreme Court says they don't have to follow the constitution?
That's what it kind of sounds like to me. The redistricting is supposed to happen every ten years according to the constitution.

From what MSNBC just said, SCOTUS says that it can happen in the middle of a decade. They had no problem with that. I haven't read the decisions, yet, but that's what I'm getting out of this.

Am I misunderstanding?

Shouldn't we all be alarmed not just for this one ruling, but for others as well?
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fmlymninral Donating Member (42 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-28-06 10:19 AM
Response to Original message
1. I think what the supreme court is
saying is the constitution says they must do it every 10 years not that they can only do it every 10 years. Thats if i read the article correctly
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Hosnon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-28-06 10:25 AM
Response to Reply #1
5. Yeah I think that is it. I'm sure the Founders would have loved for it to
Edited on Wed Jun-28-06 10:27 AM by MJDuncan1982
occur every possible instant to more accurately reflect the population but that is impossible.

So 10 years was set as the "you have to get your shit together at least every now and then" limit.
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babylonsister Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-28-06 10:21 AM
Response to Original message
2. Can you imagine the repugs salivating over this? Are they
redrawing every state as I type, since it's now allowed to be done whenever they want?
I'm alarmed...
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cynatnite Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-28-06 10:26 AM
Response to Reply #2
6. That's what I was thinking...
The more I read, the more uneasy I feel.
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Richard Steele Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-28-06 10:32 AM
Response to Reply #2
9. I'm sure the "redrawing" was done long ago.
This is one 'contingency' you can bet the GOP
is already well prepared for.
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Justitia Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-28-06 10:22 AM
Response to Original message
3. This will completely screw with EVERY state, it's really bad. -eom
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AndyA Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-28-06 10:22 AM
Response to Original message
4. It's my understanding that the Constitution says the redistricting
has to happen at least every ten years, but there's nothing that says it can't happen more than once every ten years. It's a gray area.

But, I think this can ultimately be a good thing. Democrats in states with large populations that lean progressive can now manipulate the districts to eliminate all the Republicans. California, New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, New Jersey, etc., can then all go mostly Democrat.

What goes around, comes around.
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cynatnite Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-28-06 10:28 AM
Response to Reply #4
7. The south is screwed...
Throw in other states like Ohio and it could really hurt us. The repukes have been known to play dirty.

I hope what you say is true.
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AndyA Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-28-06 10:35 AM
Response to Reply #7
10. I've heard the Dems have been waiting for this decision...
now that it's happened, I guess we'll have to see where the chips fall.

We know that Gore won the election in 2000, and it's likely that Kerry won it in 2004 as well. If the Dems in office can manipulate the districts as DeLay did, we can pick up a lot of seats. Whether or not we lose more than we pick up remains to be seen, but there's a possibility this could level the playing field greatly.

Think of the Dem power centers - there's a lot of people and seats there. If those all went mostly Democrat, it could serious mess things up for the GOP.

It will be interesting to see which party could gain the most from this.
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acmejack Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-28-06 10:30 AM
Response to Original message
8. The supreme court is supremely fucked up & has been since 2000
and has become even more so since the last two appointments, don't expect any rational decisions to come from them anytime soon.
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Hugin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-28-06 10:41 AM
Response to Original message
11. This decision violates the "equal protection" guaranteed.
Voting discrimination is strictly forbidden by XV Amendment, XXIV Amendment and so on
and so on.
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cascadiance Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-28-06 10:43 AM
Response to Original message
12. Damn ACTIVIST judges!
Aren't they supposed to interpret and not make law?! Where have I heard that complaint before?
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RedStateShame Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-28-06 11:01 AM
Response to Original message
13. Wait....do they think they've been following it up to now?!
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Freddie Stubbs Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-28-06 11:25 AM
Response to Original message
14. Where in the Constitution does it say that?
:shrug:
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NYC Liberal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-28-06 12:31 PM
Response to Reply #14
15. Here's the text:
Article 1, Section 2:

The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative;
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tammywammy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-28-06 02:34 PM
Response to Reply #15
16. Unfortunately
the Constitution is missing a little phrase "only once." If it stated "only once within every subsequent Term of ten Years" then it would be a direct violation of the Constitution if redistricting is done more often. As it is (and though I don't like it), it appears redistricting can be done more than once within a 10 year span, but has to be done at a minimum every 10 years.

That's at least how I read it.
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