Is this the end of partisan gerrymandering?

We the People

National Constitution Center

History, News Commentary, News

4.6 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 8 December 2016

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Nicholas Stephanopoulos of the University of Chicago and Michael Morley of Barry University discuss a big Wisconsin case that could reach the Supreme Court. Get the latest constitutional news, and continue the conversation, on Facebook and Twitter. We want to know what you think of the podcast! Email us at [email protected]. Please subscribe to We the People and our companion podcast, Live at America’s Town Hall, on iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app. We the People is a member of Slate’s Panoply network. Check out the full roster at Panoply.fm. Despite our congressional charter, the National Constitution Center is a private nonprofit; we receive little government support, and we rely on the generosity of people around the country who are inspired by our nonpartisan mission of constitutional debate and education. Please consider becoming a member to support our work, including this podcast. Visit constitutioncenter.org to learn more. This show was engineered by Jason Gregory and produced by Nicandro Iannacci. Research was provided by Lana Ulrich. The host of We the People is Jeffrey Rosen.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, and welcome to
0:08.1	We The People, a weekly show of constitutional debate.
0:11.6	The National Constitution Center is the only institution in America chartered by Congress to disseminate
0:17.2	information about the U.S. Constitution on a nonpartisan basis.
0:22.1	And this week we tackle a question that is the opposite of nonpartisan
0:26.2	and that is partisan gerrymandering.
0:28.8	Last month in Wisconsin for the first time in three decades
0:32.0	and only the second time in American history
0:34.0	a federal court ruled that the state's legislative districts were unconstitutional
0:38.0	because they would unduly benefit one political party over another.
0:42.0	This is not a new issue, gerrymandering, one political party over another.
0:42.8	This is not a new issue.
0:44.0	Jerrymandering, which I should actually pronounce Gary,
0:47.3	takes its name from one of our founders, Elbridge Gary.
0:50.1	I've learned to be pedantic about that
0:51.4	because Elbridge Gary sits in
0:52.6	signers Hall at the National Constitution Center in the back of the room
0:55.6	along with the two other Refusenics, the signers who refused to sign the
1:00.0	Constitution because it contained no Bill of Rights and that was and Randolph and Mason.
1:08.3	But Elbridge-Gerry drew voting districts that look like salamanders in order to entrench incumbents and that's why they're
1:14.0	called gerrymanders or gerrymanders and over the years I'm going to call it gerrymandering
1:19.2	because it sounds too panantic to use the hard gerrymandering has confounded legislatures and courts
	...

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