AZ Congressional Delegation

Forecasting the Court’s opinion in the Arizona redistricting case

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SupremeCourtIt’s a rare day when the media arm of the Arizona Republican Party, The Arizona Republic(an), Our View: Lawmakers vs. the people – who wins? (Our View: The people have spoken. They don’t trust lawmakers to draw election maps. But will the Supreme Court listen?), and the “librul” New York Times, Will the Supreme Court Say No to Gerrymandering? (Americans need to have more direct control over the integrity of the electoral process), can agree with one another: Republicans in the Arizona legislature determining congressional district boundaries is a bad thing.

Unfortunately, both editorial boards are going to be disappointed by what the U.S. Supreme Court appears most likely to do in Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission.

I have read most of the national news media reporting on the oral argument yesterday, and the vast majority of reporting is in the vein of this AP headline: Justices Seem Skeptical of Independent map Drawers.

Election law attorney Rick Hasen has his Analysis: Supreme Court Looks to Endanger Citizen Redistricting Commissions and MORE:

I have now had a chance to review the transcript in Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission and the news is not good. It appears that the conservative Justices may be ready to hold that citizen redistricting commissions which have no role for state legislatures in drawing congressional districts are unconstitutional. What’s worse, such a ruling would endanger other election laws passed by voter initiative trying to regulate congressional elections, such as open primaries. For those who don’t like campaign finance laws because they could protect incumbents, this is a ruling that could make incumbency protection all the worse, removing the crucial legislative bypass which is the initiative process (for congressional elections).

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Arizona’s lawless Tea-Publican legislature vs. Arizona citizens in the Supreme Court today

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SupremeCourtBlog for Arizona contributor Steve Muratore from the Arizona Eagletarian blog will be inside the U.S. Supreme Court this morning for oral argument in Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission. Steve has chronicled the 2012 Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC) better than any reporter in Arizona, and I look forward to his reporting later today.

Here is a preview of today’s argument from Lyle Denniston of SCOTUSblog. Argument preview: Who, exactly, is “the legislature”?:

At [8 a.m. Arizona time] Monday, the Supreme Court will hear one hour of oral argument on the power of voters to take away from state legislatures the task of drawing new election district maps, in Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission.

Background

From time to time, at least since 1898, the people in America’s states have decided to take government into their own hands, withdrawing it from elected politicians when the voters think they have done the job badly, or not at all.  “Direct democracy” has cycles of popularity, and may be in a new one now, as political polarization spreads worry that elected lawmakers think party first and public good second.  The Supreme Court looks into such a reclaiming of people power [today].

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Rep. Paul Gosar gets ‘Four Pinocchios’ for lying about immigration

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Gosar Bundy Ward 14 April 2014The Washington Post’s fact checker, Glenn Kessler, awards Cliven Bundy’s pal Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar “Four Pinocchios” for lying to his constituents about President Obama’s immigration program. Lawmaker bungles immigration facts at town hall meeting:

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), remarks at a rural issues roundtable, Payson, Ariz., Feb. 9, 2015:

“It was learned the household income deferred tax credit applied retroactively for three years. So each illegal alien will get $24,000 in compensation.” [The crowd expresses some surprise at this fact, with one person saying “what?”] “Yep, absolutely. You start looking at the process where the GDP [gross domestic product] of Mexico, the second largest input to that, is our system of Social Security and benefits.”

[H]ow reliable is the information that is being given at town hall events?

[Watch the video recorded by American Bridge.]

We wondered that as we watched a clip of a town hall meeting held by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.). As you can see, the crowd is quite taken aback by one his assertions — that President Obama proposes to give $24,000 to “each illegal alien.” Then he goes onto to say that the second-largest part of the Mexican gross domestic product consists of benefits from Social Security.

Neither of those statements is remotely true. In one case, there’s an element of truth, but the second statement is really wrong.

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Democrats prepare for redistricting in 2020

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The_Gerry-Mander_EditDemocrats have finally learned their lesson, one hopes, after the debacle of the 2010 election in which GOP majorities were elected in statehouses and Congress that then gerrymandered their way into safe districts that are mostly safe until 2020, when the next decennial census occurs and is followed by the next redistricting battles.

Huffington Post reports, Democrats Are Already Planning For The Next Round Of Redistricting Battles:

Democrats launched a super PAC Thursday with the purpose of flipping state legislatures before the next round of redistricting, which will follow the 2020 elections.

The PAC, called Advantage 2020, will be led by Mark Schauer, a former Democratic congressman and Michigan state Senate leader who lost the state’s gubernatorial race to Republican Gov. Rick Snyder last year. Advantage 2020 plans to spend about $70 million over the next three elections in an attempt to chip away at GOP majorities in key battleground states where Republicans established legislative districts after the 2010 elections.

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Rep. Paul Gosar wants the U.S. military to kill civilians

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The editors of the Arizona Republic recently stated that “there is a danger in making policy by anecdote” in regards to the lawsuit filed against the state of Arizona by children in the Arizona foster care system.

This should apply to the statement by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) today in the wake of the confirmation of the death of Kayla Mueller in Syria, who was held captive by ISIS.

In an interview with the Arizona Republic today:

Rep. Paul Gosar, whose district includes Prescott, said in a phone interview that the U.S. should loosen the rules of engagement that protect civilians, saying that American forces are limited by, for example, having to ensure buildings are cleared of civilians before bombing. “It’s like in American Sniper,” he said. “Are you prepared to kill a 10-year-old carrying an improvised explosive device?”

Why stop there? Why not the usual unhinged “Kill ’em all! Let God sort ’em out”?

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