South Carolina redistricting case could add Democratic House seats

A South Carolina redistricting case could result in an additional Democratic seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Understanding the case: The Republican-dominated state legislature of South Carolina is currently under scrutiny by the US Supreme Court for its redistricting practices.
* The state legislature decided to equalize the population of its congressional districts, specifically targeting CD 1, which had 88,000 excess voters, and CD 6, which was short of 85,000 voters.
* Rather than redistributing voters between CDs 1 and 6, the legislature fragmented Charleston County, moving many voters away from CD 1.

Accusations and interpretation: The South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP alleges that this redistricting violated the 14th Amendment’s guarantee to equal protection.
* South Carolina insists that the redistricting was motivated by partisanship, not racism, which is legal under Supreme Court precedents.
* A lower court found that the redistricting racially targeted Black voters, particularly in CD 1, to suppress Democratic votes, breaching the legislature’s rule of minimum changes to district lines.

Relevance to the bigger picture: If the Supreme Court sides with civil rights groups in this case, new boundaries could be established for the 2024 election.
* Democrats suggest that wins in similar redistricting cases in Louisiana, Georgia, and a recent one in Alabama, could help them regain control of the House of Representatives.

Expert Opinion: Richard Pildes, an election law professor at NYU, stated that this situational “consistency” lies in the Supreme Court’s stance that race should only be involved in policy-making or educational practices for compelling justifications, like abiding by the Voting Rights Act.

View original article on NPR

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