Bradley Partner Junaid Odubeko Quoted in Talk Media News on Expected SCOTUS Decision on Partisan Gerrymandering

Bradley attorney Junaid Odubeko was quoted in Talk Media News on two high-stakes partisan gerrymandering cases before the U.S. Supreme Court that could reshape American politics. The Supreme Court has never ruled that extreme political gerrymandering violates the Constitution, but some legal experts suggest that the high court may finally hand down a decisive ruling on the issue.

Experts note that sophisticated, computerized map-drawing techniques have enabled legislatures to predict the outcome of elections based on political boundaries more than ever before, and gerrymandering has never approached the level seen today.

 “It’s the first time that the court is taking part in gerrymandering cases where it looks like we’re going to get a decision of some consequence on the issue, and it’s amazing for me to see the awareness of partisan gerrymandering at a level that I never thought I would see,” said Odubeko.

 “When you pack Republican or Democratic voters into a district, or if you spread out votes in a certain district to the point that voters in one party think they can’t win, it gets to the point where voters think they really don’t have a say in who gets elected,” Odubeko explained. “And political gerrymandering has a corrosive effect on our politics. So you disenchant voters, and we’ll see if the court finds that you disenfranchise them somehow.”

Odubeko and others say that extreme political gerrymandering turn primary, not general, elections into the real battlefields, and leads to more polarizing campaigns and election of candidates who pander to the extremes of their party to avoid losing their seats.

The complete article, “Partisan gerrymandering cases before SCOTUS could radically alter American politics,” appeared in Talk Media News on May 14, 2018.