McCain, Schwarzenegger buck GOP on redistricting
Officials file briefs agreeing with request for limits
Arizona Sen. John McCain, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other Republicans are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to side with Democratic voters from Wisconsin to put limits on how legislative lines are drawn.
The GOP officials filed friend-of-the-court briefs recently as the justices prepare to hear arguments on the case next month. The case is expected to determine whether legislative maps can be so beneficial to one party as to violate the constitutional rights of voters who support the other party.
The court has long been split on the issue, with liberals contending partisanship can go too far when it comes to drawing maps and conservatives saying the issue is not one for courts to address.
States must draw new legislative and congressional maps every 10 years to account for changes in population. Those maps can be skewed to help the party in power, and Wisconsin Republicans took advantage of their majorities in 2011 to do that — much as Republicans in other states did after winning statehouses around the country in 2010.
Democratic voters sued, saying the Wisconsin maps were so out of whack as to violate their voting rights. In a 2-1 decision, a panel of federal judges in November sided with the Democrats and found the maps are invalid.
The Supreme Court will hear the case Oct. 3 and is expected to make a ruling by early next year — in time for the 2018 elections.
Those bringing the suit hope to catch momentum with the recent filings from a cross section of Republicans who say there should be limits on how maps are drawn. Such a decision would help Democrats in Wisconsin but could also benefit Republicans who are relegated to the minority in states like Illinois.
Schwarzenegger has worked on the issue for years. He told reporters in a conference call Wednesday that it was a lonely fight in the early days but has gained traction recently.
“I remember with body building it was the same thing,” the Hollywood star and former Mr. Universe said. “No one knew what the hell body building was ... Now, everybody does it.
“No one ever came up to me 10 years ago and said, ‘I like that you’re working on redistricting.’ (But now) it has caught on and I’m very, very happy about that.”
Scores of other Republicans came down in legal filings on the same side as Schwarzenegger, including McCain, who has developed a reputation for bucking his party at times, and Kasich, who ran for president last year.
Among the other Republicans who signed onto briefs backing Democrats were Bob Dole, the 1996 presidential nominee and former senator from Kansas; former Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana; Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, the chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus; and Christine Todd Whitman, a former New Jersey governor and Environmental Protection Administration director under President George W. Bush.
“Quite literally, gerrymandering is killing our system,” former Sen. Alan Simpson, a Republican from Wyoming, said in a news release. “Most Americans think politicians are corrupt, and when they’re rigging maps to pick their own constituents, they’re giving them reason to believe it.”
In one brief, current and former lawmakers of both parties argued partisan redistricting had made it more difficult for them to show bipartisanship and for constituents to get good representation from their legislators.