Ending partisan gerrymanders is the most important part of the For the People Act

With the ARP in the books, this is the single most important component of the most important proposed legislation to pass:

This fall, congressional districts around the country will be redrawn based on the 2020 Census. With the For the People Act, Congress has a once-in-a-decade chance to replace a murky and abuse-prone process with one that is fair, transparent, and inclusive.

The bill, which was passed by the House this month and will soon be introduced in the Senate, would strengthen protections for communities of color and ban partisan gerrymandering. It would also enhance the ability of voters to challenge racially or politically discriminatory maps in court, require meaningful transparency in the map-drawing process, and mandate the use of independent commissions to draw maps.

Packaged together in one bill, the reforms are the most significant effort in American history to rein in gerrymandering and other abuses that have long plagued congressional redistricting. But with the start of redistricting nearing, the window for Congress to act is closing.

Even with rusty end-of-cycle gerrymanders in place, Wisconsin Democrats got 54% of the vote while winning the major statewide races, and this translated to 36% of seats in the state assembly. Democrats would have to get 60% or 61% of the vote to get even a bare majority of the legislature. This is, in short, not a democracy. The Supreme Court should have done it job but it didn’t because John Roberts and his fellow Republican nominees take the same view of democracy that Robin Vos does. So it’s up to Congress, which really needs to act.

While we’re here, I strongly recommend Miriam Seifter’s article “Countermajoritarian Legislatures.”