Cite as: 588 U. S. ____ (2019)
29
KAGAN, J., dissenting
not so. The plaintiffs objected to one specific practice—the
extreme manipulation of district lines for partisan gain.
Elimination of that practice could have led to proportional
representation. Or it could have led to nothing close.
What was left after the practice’s removal could have been
fair, or could have been unfair, by any number of
measures. That was not the crux of this suit. The plaintiffs asked only that the courts bar politicians from entrenching themselves in power by diluting the votes of
their rivals’ supporters. And the courts, using neutral and
manageable—and eminently legal—standards, provided
that (and only that) relief. This Court should have
cheered, not overturned, that restoration of the people’s
power to vote.
III
This Court has long understood that it has a special
responsibility to remedy violations of constitutional rights
resulting from politicians’ districting decisions. Over 50
years ago, we committed to providing judicial review in
that sphere, recognizing as we established the one-personone-vote rule that “our oath and our office require no less.”
Reynolds, 377 U. S., at 566. Of course, our oath and our
office require us to vindicate all constitutional rights. But
the need for judicial review is at its most urgent in cases
like these. “For here, politicians’ incentives conflict with
voters’ interests, leaving citizens without any political
remedy for their constitutional harms.” Gill, 585 U. S., at
___ (KAGAN, J., concurring) (slip op., at 14). Those harms
arise because politicians want to stay in office. No one can
look to them for effective relief.
The majority disagrees, concluding its opinion with a
paean to congressional bills limiting partisan gerrymanders. “Dozens of [those] bills have been introduced,” the
majority says. Ante, at 33. One was “introduced in 2005
and has been reintroduced in every Congress since.” Ibid.