The Supreme Court just delivered a ‘huge victory for the Republican Party’: CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin
On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled that partisan gerrymandering -- exploited by Republicans at the state level -- is not an issue for the courts to take on. Writing the majority decision, Chief Justice John Roberts said, "We have no legal commission to allocate political power and influence."
The 5-4 decision is a win for Republicans, who are criticized for drawing up districts in a way that favors a GOP vote.
On CNN Thursday, legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin explained the significance of the decision.
"Two points, one, huge victory for the Republican Party here, because it's the Republicans who control most of these states, who control Ohio, who control Florida, who will be redistricting following the 2020 census and now this is a green light to jam all the Democrats into a handful of districts and put the Republicans in Congress of all the rest of them," Toobin said.
"Second point, this is why, in very significant ways, the country is so divided along partisan lines."
Toobin explained how the decision reflects wider divisions in American politics.
"That what we have now are state legislative districts and Congressional districts where it's clear a Democrat is going to win in some seats and clear a Republican is going to win in the other. So that the only important election in those districts are the primaries," he added.
"Meaning, moderates need not apply... you are going to get more conservative Republicans and more liberal Democrats in state legislatures and in the Houses of Congress," Toobin said.
"This decision is a major contributor to the polarized political society in which we live and it's only going to get more polarized because of the green light that Chief Justice Roberts gave to state legislatures today."
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