Anti-gerrymandering forces hope ongoing litigation will limit the impact of partisan and racial bias in state and congressional redistricting this cycle.
Common Cause, a national organization focused on democracy reform, is partnering with groups in multiple states to fight new district maps that they identify as racial or partisan gerrymanders, often arguing that the two go hand-in-hand.
While more than 60 lawsuits have been filed in at least 22 states by various groups, Common Cause is particularly focused on litigation in North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania as well as unusual redistricting activity in Florida.
Communities of color have been able to make their voices heard more this cycle than in the past, said Suzanne Almeida, redistricting and representation counsel for Common Cause.
“This year it’s been more coordinated, more concentrated and more focused, and because of that we’re seeing some wins we might not otherwise have seen,” she said. “Unfortunately, we’re also seeing a national trend where the redistricting cycle is weakening these voices.”
Almeida argued that legislators are making partisan decisions at the expense of community voices: “We are seeing state after state intentionally draw maps that silence communities of color at the ballot box.”
One of the places Common Cause and its legal allies have had success is North Carolina, which has a history of gerrymandering battles.
“We have been the epicenter of bad maps, arguably,” said Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause North Carolina. But he believes it’s possible the state has turned a corner.
The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that the legislative and congressional maps approved by the General Assembly violate the state Constitution’s prohibition on partisan gerrymandering. Even though the state has been narrowly divided in recent national elections, the proposed maps would deliver heavy Republican majorities in the General Assembly and the congressional delegation, likely eliminating districts where candidates of color would be expected to win.
Any new maps must include statistics to justify their nonpartisanship.
“In North Carolina, we filed litigation to make clear it is never admissible to build political power on the backs of communities of color—and the State Supreme Court agreed,” said Phillips. “The ruling is one more nail in the coffin of gerrymandering in North Carolina and a powerful reminder of what’s possible when you combine litigation with grassroots advocacy.”
The courts in Ohio have similarly sided with anti-gerrymandering forces.
On Monday, state Supreme Court rejected proposed legislative maps for the second time in 2022 for violating the Ohio Constitution, which voters amended to limit partisan gerrymandering. The court also rejected the congressional map in January.
The people in charge of redistricting ignored the new requirements around transparency, public participation, bipartisanship and representational fairness, according to Common Cause Ohio Associate Director Mia Lewis, who claimed “these rigged maps are made on the backs of people of color.”
“This showed an epic disrespect for the voters of Ohio and the Ohio Constitution,” she said. “It was really galling to see this process go so wrong.”
And in Pennsylvania, where the state is led by a Republican General Assembly and a Democratic governor, the local chapter has engaged in the redistricting process by submitting a map of its own.
“Common Cause Pennsylvania is participating in this case as an amicus to ensure that voters of color that have historically been left out or worse by the redistricting process can have their voices heard,” said Khalif Ali, executive director of the chapter. “We are continuing to seek a better way of drawing maps that put people, not politicians, in the drawing seat.”
The battle in Florida is different. Rather than suing over approved maps, Common Cause Florida and other groups are trying to prevent Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, from getting involved in the redistricting process prior to the Legislature sending him its proposal.
Opponents believe DeSantis’ proposed congressional map would reduce the influence of Black voters while increasing the number of seats held by Republicans.
“It is not normal for any court, especially a supreme court, to give an advisory opinion to someone who doesn’t even have the authority to draw maps,” said Allison Riggs, co-executive director and chief counsel of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice.
In all of these cases, the anti-gerrymandering advocates believe partisan gerrymandering and racial gerrymandering are being practiced simultaneously.
“Racial discrimination and partisan gerrymandering are tools that work together,” said Riggs.
Old engraved illustration of Ulysses defying the Cyclops.
Odysseus Reimagined: Nolan’s Epic Explores What Makes a True Hero
Who is a hero? More importantly: what is a hero? What attributes are universally admired, inspiring glorious stories, ballads and songs, memorials and movies, all chronicling the hero’s bold adventures?
The Odyssey, a new release written and directed by Christopher Nolan, attempts to answer that question. Based on the ancient tales The Iliad and The Odyssey, written by Homer around 800 BC, the film stars Matt Damon as Odysseus and Anne Hathaway as Penelope, his loyal wife.
Historians have puzzled over the “Homeric question,” that is, who was Homer? We know very little about him, not even when or where he was born; seven Greek cities lay claim to him as their native son. Yet, he is considered the “godfather” of national Greek culture, and his stories are among the earliest masterpieces of literature.
Homer is sometimes romanticized as a blind poet who wandered from town to town reciting his stories. But he, who could express so poignantly the tribulations of Odysseus, was not blind to human nature. He keenly wrote of the attributes as well as the paltriness in his characters and the flaws of his great hero, Odysseus.
The Iliad is the story of the final years of the Trojan War, sparked when Helen, the beautiful wife of Sparta’s King Menelaus, was kidnapped by Paris of Troy. Because the kings had initiated a pact to defend one another, Odysseus was drawn into the fray.
After spending ten years fighting the Trojan War and finally achieving victory, The Odyssey tells of Odysseus’s struggle to return to his kingdom, Ithaca. On his way home, he encounters many dangers and delays. He is pursued by the sea-god Poseidon, must surmount Circe’s spell, and overcome the seductive charms of the enchantress Calypso, and his journey takes him another ten years.
Odysseus’s desires and struggles are universal: his longing for home, yearning for an end to his troubles, for rest after a long and difficult journey. His difficulties reflect the immemorial questions of what it means to be loyal, to belong, what it means “to be” at all. Despite his hubris, which manifests in his propensity to court catastrophe without regard for consequences, Odysseus is an authentic hero, noble and admirable, brave and dedicated.
According to the Greek ideal, a true hero must possess physical excellence and moral virtue. He must, as well, embrace his civic duty. Achieving such status requires “paideia,” a good education; “sophrosyne,” moderation in maintaining physical and emotional balance; and “arete,” an allegiance to the state.
Fictional or real, heroes’ deeds resonate through the centuries and shine a light on what is best in humanity, what matters, what will live on despite our mortality.
Is our digital age really so different from Homer’s Bronze Age? Physical beauty is still adulated, as it was then with Helen of Troy, “the face that launched a thousand ships.” (Marlowe) Power is still king, and wealth is still power.
The years of the Trojan War were harsh and violent. But were they more brutal than the times we live in? Although millenniums have passed and we now have different battlefields, Palestine, Ukraine, Iran, etc., the ravages and the wages of war remain the same: death and suffering. Humanity’s currency is the same, and so, too, is our quest for heroes.
Social scientists claim that after three generations most people are forgotten by even their direct progeny, and after four, remembered only by historical records. So, what then does last? What makes a difference? What is truly beautiful and worthwhile in life?
The universal themes embodied and emboldened by our heroes throughout the ages, the faithfulness of their hearts and the courage of their deeds, these last.
The essential qualities of a hero are manifested in Homer’s Odysseus. Steadfast integrity: “Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another.” His deep compassion: “Yet, taught by time, my heart has learned to glow for others’ good, and to melt at others’ woes.” (Both quotes from The Odyssey.)
Nolan’s movie may have created a more virtuous hero than Homer’s works, but the core of the nearly 3,000-year-old-story is intact and as crucially relevant today as it was then. It is the stuff of life: trauma, survival, relationships with others, finding oneself, deciding what is right, choosing a path forward, sometimes, ultimately leading to the honing of a hero.
Just as Odysseus braved storms, temptations, and trials in search of home, we too face a modern sea of civic turbulence, polarization, mistrust, and the fraying of our shared story.
As we live, we too will write our defining stories. How then might we become modern heroes?
By instigating the third Greek ideal of “arete”; embracing our civic duty. By becoming citizens who are open to reflection and debate, who are willing to act with purpose for the betterment of our nation.
In this journey, the work of renewing our democracy can be its own Odyssey, a voyage calling for integrity, courage, and steadfast commitment. Not to return home as Odysseus so desired, but to preserve our home, for the grand and worthwhile purpose of working toward an ever-better future for our country.
With others, we can shape the next chapter of our nation’s collective story.
Amy Lockard is an Iowa resident who regularly contributes to regional newspapers and periodicals. She is working on the second of a four-book fictional series based on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice."