Court to tackle gerrymandering

Justices’ ruling could reshape electoral maps

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will take up a momentous fight over parties manipulating electoral districts to gain partisan advantage in a case that could affect the balance of power between Democrats and Republicans across the United States.

At issue is whether Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin drew legislative districts that favored their party and were so out of whack with the state’s political breakdown that they violated the constitutional rights of Democratic voters.

It will be the high court’s first case in more than a decade on what’s known as partisan gerrymandering. A lower court struck down the districts as unconstitutional last year.

Republicans who control the state legislature assured the court that they could draw new maps in time for the 2018 elections, if the court strikes down the districts. If the state wins, there’ll be no need for new districts.

Democrats hope a favorable decision will help them cut into Republican electoral majorities. Election law experts say the case is the best chance yet for the high court to put limits on what lawmakers may do to gain a partisan advantage in creating political district maps.

In other action Monday, the Supreme Court:

■ Struck down a North Carolina law that bars convicted sex offenders from Facebook, Twitter and other popular sites. The justices ruled unanimously in favor of North Carolina resident Lester Packingham Jr. His Facebook boast about beating a traffic ticket led to his conviction for violating a 2008 law aimed at keeping sex offenders off internet sites children might use.

■ Ruled 5-4 that Alabama inmate James Mcwilliams was deprived of an independent mental health expert to help him try to stave off a death sentence at his trial more than 30 years ago. The outcome could affect Arkansas death row inmates Bruce Earl Ward and Don Davis, whose executions were scheduled for April 17 and were halted over the same issue.

■ Ruled 4-2 that Muslim men detained after the Sept. 11 attacks can’t sue top U.S. law enforcement officials.

■ Ruled 8-1 that hundreds of out-state-residents can’t sue drugmaker New-jersey-based Bristol-myers Squibb Co. in California state court over adverse reactions to the blood thinner Plavix.

■ Decided to turn away an appeal in a copyright dispute over a Youtube video that shows a baby dancing to Prince’s song, “Let’s Go Crazy” and also an appeal of an

Ohio law that changed the standards for absentee and provisional ballots in ways that critics said posed an illegal burden on minority voters.