The majority of the Republican-appointed Supreme Court appeared to be looking for justifications on Wednesday early morning for maintaining a South Carolina congressional district design that was, as everyone admits, gerrymandered to favor the Republican Party.
Federal courts are not permitted to entertain claims contesting partisan gerrymanders, or maps created to favor one political party over another, by Supreme Court decisions. Racial gerrymanders, however—maps designed to reduce the political influence of voters of a particular race—can be challenged in federal courts.
By eliminating Black voters from the state’s 1st Congressional District, the GOP-controlled legislature in South Carolina achieved its goal of securing Republican authority over this district, according to a lower court that invalidated the state’s voting design.
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