1. The Supreme Court (SCOTUS) might try to avoid this case, why do they have to hear it?
There are certain special procedural rules for voting rights cases, so the Court must hear the Wisconsin Case.
2. How can Trump impact the outcome of this case - in the event that it wasn't decided this year?
He will likely replace left-minded judges, which deprives Justice Kennedy of his swing vote and dashing any chance for changing the policy on gerrymandering.
3. How big do Democrats have to win national elections in order to actually win control of the House?
They would have to win popular vote by 9 percentage points
4. Why has SCOTUS been unwilling to weigh in on partisan gerrymandering before?
It looks bad to the generally uninformed public that the nine unelected judges on the Supreme Court have overruled something that an elected legislature dictates.
5. Why does SCOTUS look bad for intervening in Bush V Gore?
Elections are supposed to be "democratic" and a power of the people (not really), so many people have blamed the choice of Bush on the Republican-dominated Court.
6. How does the lack of political parties during the writing of the Constitution allow for political parties to take advantage of the current laws in place?
There is a challenge of preventing institutions from having partisan sentiments and deciding what is "fair" since a court ruling would mean choosing one party's ideology over the other. This allows the majority party in the government to have a large extent of influence on the nation.
7. Why have judges in the past found it so difficult to come up with a solution for partisan gerrymandering? (They don't like gerrymandering, but don't have a solution - why?)
They don't want to easily make a decision on gerrymandering since it is so difficult to come up with an easily applicable, easily justifiable standard to drawing district lines. Additionally, a different solution would be like replacing gerrymandering with another politically debatable system.
8. What do the new litigants mean when they use the term "wasted votes"?
They mean that the votes of those not aligning with the majority party are rendered useless due to gerrymandering: cracking and packing. Regardless of those people's interests, gerrymandering will almost always guarantee a majority victory for the majority party.
9. Why is Wisconsin a particularly good place to try their ideas?
Wisconsin has ridiculously drawn districts that are compact and feel the full effects of gerrymandering.
10. If gerrymandering is struck down by SCOTUS, who feels the effects immediately? When would most people feel the effects of the decision?
Only Wisconsin would since the case is about it. However, the effects will be expanded after 2020.
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