The Redistricting Case in South Carolina: The Role of Race and the Voting Rights Act Revisited by the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court is expected to take up a case this week that could give Democrats a chance to win a second congressional seat in South Carolina.
The way South Carolina’s First Congressional District was redrawn by the Republican-led legislature touches on two consequential effects of gerrymandering at once: political dysfunction and polarization, and the potential for Black disenfranchisement. As Ms. Mace tries to pick a new speaker at the Capitol, her map will be argued before the Supreme Court because of the issue of racial gerrymandering by the conservative supermajority.
The state of South Carolina, however, maintains that its gerrymander wasn’t racial; it was partisan. It makes a difference because, under Supreme Court precedents, a gerrymander that is “predominantly based on race” is a violation of the 14th Amendment’s guarantee to equal protection of the law, but a partisan gerrymander, while unattractive, is perfectly legal.
Most of the Black vote is Democratic, and that can be hard to figure out in the South where voting is still divided. As a result, these cases are very much determined by the factual findings of the lower courts.
“In both areas the Roberts court has taken the position that the explicit use of race in public policy-making or in educational admissions practices can only be done if the government has the most compelling justifications for doing it,” he says. “In redistricting the only compelling justification is complying with the Voting Rights Act. That’s not on the table here.”
The case could be decided by the Roberts court in favor of civil rights groups. Both sides have requested that the Supreme Court make a decision by January so that a new map can be put into place for the 2020 election.
Democrats believe that similar redistricting wins are possible in Louisiana and Georgia and that, combined with a recent win in Alabama, could conceivably be enough for the Democrats to recapture control of the House of Representatives. It’s a stretch, but not a crazy one.
Though Ms. Mace’s turn to the MAGA wing of the G.O.P. has been ongoing, the increasingly red nature of her district may help explain her latest move. She weathered a Republican primary challenge from the right in 2022 from candidate endorsed by former President Donald J. Trump and learned the lesson that criticizing or opposing Mr. Trump in the G.O.P. would always be a trial.
“Nancy has always been and will always be a maverick,” said Josh Whitley, a Berkeley County commissioner and a Mace ally. “But she has also always been very mindful of her constituents.”