Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) urged the Supreme Court to protect elections by ending partisan gerrymandering.
Gerrymandering is a practice of manipulating the boundaries of an electoral constituency for the benefit of a particular party.
On Tuesday, McCain and Whitehouse reaffirmed their position on the issue. They filed an amici curiae brief in the Gill v. Whitford case. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case. The center of the arguments in the case is the redistricting plan passed by the Republican-controlled legislature in 2011.
After the redistricting, Republicans gained control of the governor’s office in Wisconsin.They also won majority seats in both houses of the state legislature. Because of that, the case arose. Challengers of the redistricting argue that Republicans benefited from it. They see it as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering.
The senators say Americans do not like gerrymandering
In September, McCain and Whitehouse joined a group of bipartisan lawmakers opposing partisan gerrymandering. They are asking the highest court to uphold a district court ruling that the Wisconsin redistricting was unconstitutional.
