Done celebrating yet? Good.
Because this is no time for complacency.
In fact, it’s time to go on OFFENSE for democracy.
Sometimes there are moments where the payoff for being bold can last for years.
Now happens to be one of those times—to be BOLD to protect democracy.
So go BOLD!
How?
There are many ways.
But to start, those who care about democracy should use the lameduck Senate and House session to end partisan & discriminatory gerrymandering.
The current election shows us why we MUST do this. The House majority should not come down to who gerrymanders most aggressively. Or who can get away with more. Or who benefits from inconsistent court rulings in different places.
But that may very well happen in the coming weeks.
In some states—Ohio, Louisiana, Georgia, and Alabama—elections were held on maps that courts had struck down as violating a state’s Constitution, or the Voting Rights Act.
In Florida, DeSantis nuked one map in favor of another at the last minute, and that map led to Republicans controlling 71% of the House seats even though Rubio only got 58% of the vote.
In Tennessee, they split Nashville three times to eliminate a Democratic district.
And in some states like New York, court orders striking down maps were followed; in Ohio, court orders were simply ignored.
Again, this is not how we should determine who runs the House. Or this country. But in the coming weeks, all these shenanigans could very well determine the outcome.
That’s wrong.
What can we do? What can the Senate do?
Simple: Pass the Freedom to Vote Act, which includes prohibitions on partisan gerrymandering and racially discriminatory gerrymandering that would curb the nonsense and lawlessness I just described.
And why do it now? So many reasons to strike while the iron is hot:
1) Because we may not get another chance for years, and have only a few weeks to get it done. It’s sitting in the Senate right now. The current House voted for it, and would support it. THIS is the moment.
2) Because the filibuster is NOT a legitimate obstacle to laws that are part of upholding the Constitution’s Guarantee Clause, and democracy itself. That Guarantee is part of the Constitutional oath Senators take, and a procedural rule should not stand in the way of fulfilling the Constitution itself.
And because the current state of intense gerrymandering is NOT in compliance with the Constitution’s assurance that the people are sovereign in states. DeSantis, lawless legislators and illegal maps are determining outcomes more than the people themselves in too many states.
The Senate has a Constitutional duty to stop this anti-democratic nightmare, as I argue in “Laboratories of Autcoracy,” and HERE.
3) For those who were hesitant to eschew the filibuster even when democracy itself was at stake because they thought Mitch McConnell would retaliate once he took over….well, he’s NOT taking over. That threat is off the table. The sword of Damocles is gone. So it’s time for Senators to do their Constitutional duty & protect democracy in states.
4) Without action, things are about to go backward.
First, in Ohio and North Carolina, make no mistake, new state Supreme Courts elected last week under partisan rules will clearly uphold new and MORE aggressively gerrymandered House maps in the GOP’s favor. And, I fear, quickly. (Ie. as soon as 2024)
That will impact multiple seats.
The best way to prevent those states from doing so is to make such gerrymanders illegal under FEDERAL law NOW. And that means the Senate must act before those states do.
5) Speaking of Supreme Courts, there are TWO major cases that the US Supreme Court will decide this term that could also set back fair districting in dramatic ways.
Folks know about Moore v. Harper (the North Carolina gerrymander), which is scary and could do great harm.
But there’s a second case, out of the Alabama gerrymander, that’s also incredibly dangerous. It could destroy long-time Voting Rights Act protections against discriminatory districting.
And while I’m not convinced the Court will go all in on the wacko independent state legislature theory in Moore v. Harper, I have NO DOUBT the majority has already voted to crush the VRA along the nonsensical lines that Alabama argued to defend its discriminatory map. (Read more HERE ). Which will have huge and damaging repercussions in many states.
And what’s the best way to fix that?
GET AHEAD of the Court on both cases by passing the bill now before the Senate that makes clear that clarifies that the VRA STILL prohibits this kind of discriminatory gerrymandering. And adds some teeth to it.
And ground all of this is in the Guarantee Clause itself.
6) To all my Republican friends, who will no doubt point out — “Democrats gerrymander too! Like in Illinois!”
My answer is: “All the more reason to pass this reform so EVERYONE is kept from doing it by one set of rules. Welcome aboard! Let’s make it 100-0! Bipartisan.”
Bottom line: last week’s results do not change the reality that democracy remains in the balance. Threats remain, especially in states. The struggle to protect it is constant. Never-ending.
Sometimes there are unique moments where you can protect it, and where the payoff of being bold may last for years.
This is one of those moments. It may not come around again for a long time.
So it’s time to be BOLD to protect democracy.
Get this done, Senators.
NEW WHITEBOARD