Are There Judicially Discoverable and Manageable Standards to Measure Political Gerrymandering Claims?
Because the constitutional text was not dispositive in Vieth, the critical issue there was the second Baker factor: whether there are “judicially discoverable and manageable standards for resolving” claims of political gerrymandering. The plurality in Vieth said there were neither, and therefore concluded the case presented a political question. What are “judicially discoverable and manageable standards”? Discoverable standards are those that can be traced to the Constitution’s text, structure, history and so forth, such that the courts can honestly say that their decision is guided by law, rather than made up out of whole cloth. Manageable standards are those that lead to predictable and sensible results, such that actors (like state legislatures) subject to them can conform their conduct to law. In a 1986 case, Davis v. Bandemer, the Court ruled that political gerrymandering cases did not present a political question, but the Justices disagreed on the relevant standard. In the interi
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- If passed wouldn’t this measure make it difficult for political subdivisions to budget if they wished to increase their budgets more than their prior budget plus the CPI?
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- Are There Judicially Discoverable and Manageable Standards to Measure Political Gerrymandering Claims?
