Supreme Court: Federal judges cannot block gerrymandering

The US Supreme Court declined to set limits on gerrymandering – the practice where voting districts are re-drawn in order to favour political parties.

The 5-4 vote on Thursday saw justices divided along ideological lines, with the court’s conservative majority penning the opinion.

They ruled the federal government does not have the constitutional authority to regulate state election maps.

The liberal justices dissented, saying the practice imperilled democracy.

The Supreme Court examined two cases of partisan gerrymandering in North Carolina and Maryland, where voters and other plaintiffs sued the states for district maps they claimed were unconstitutional.

In North Carolina, the plaintiffs accused the state of discriminating against Democrats. In Maryland, plaintiffs claimed the maps discriminated against Republicans.

They argued the instances of gerrymandering violated the US Constitution, which says a state must govern impartially and protects individual rights.

Plaintiffs in both cases won in lower courts, prompting the states to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, saying that the top court could not rule on gerrymandering because there are no laws to direct it.

“We have no commission to allocate political power and influence in the absence of a constitutional directive or legal standards to guide us in the exercise of such authority.”