Insider: GOP 'screwed' as Supreme Court liberals shut down midterm redistricting
Liberal justices on the U.S. Supreme Court are reportedly "slow walking" a redistricting decision to effectively deter additional states from trying the tactic before the midterm elections.
On Friday, former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told War Room host Steve Bannon that liberals on the court were plotting to prevent Republican-led states from gerrymandering districts ahead of November by refusing to submit a minority opinion in a Louisiana redistricting case that is likely to give states additional latitude in the future.
"No one thought this was going to be a problem, right?" Spicer said. "It's either 6-3 or 5-4, but I don't think there's anybody that's watched that doesn't think it. The question that I started probing around and asking is why. Why are we not getting this decision?"
"And the answer I got back from a very reliable source was the minority on the court is slow walking their dissent," he continued. "Why does that matter? Well, until they put the dissent out there, the court can't issue the opinion. Why does that matter? Because as time gets... ticks away, states are then limited in their ability to potentially redistrict. That will cost Republicans the opportunity to pick up seats."
While Louisiana could pick up one Republican seat in the Supreme Court ruling, the liberal justices may be hoping that other states will not have time to redistrict this cycle after the decision comes out.
"Louisiana will jam through their one. And then in my conversations with other states that would have the potential to use this ruling to redistrict, I don't know that another state that I've talked to is telling me that they will have, you know, it's possible, but right now, many are telling me that it's too late based on their legislative calendar. And that's the key thing," Spicer explained. "If the court runs the clock out and many of these legislatures go out of session, they're screwed."
"And the court, the minority, the liberals on the court know exactly what they're doing," he added.