32 RUCHO v. COMMON CAUSE KAGAN, J., dissenting evaluated with immense care the factual evidence and legal arguments the parties presented. They used neutral and manageable and strict standards. They had not a shred of politics about them. Contra the majority, see ante, at 34, this was law. That is not to deny, of course, that these cases have great political consequence. They do. Among the amicus briefs here is one from a bipartisan group of current and former Members of the House of Representatives. They describe all the ways partisan gerrymandering harms our political system—what they call “a cascade of negative results.” Brief as Amicus Curiae 5. These artificially drawn districts shift influence from swing voters to partybase voters who participate in primaries; make bipartisanship and pragmatic compromise politically difficult or impossible; and drive voters away from an ever more dysfunctional political process. See id., at 5–6. Last year, we heard much the same from current and former state legislators. In their view, partisan gerrymandering has “sounded the death-knell of bipartisanship,” creating a legislative environment that is “toxic” and “tribal.” Brief as Amicus Curiae in Gill v. Whitford, O. T. 2016, No. 16– 1161, pp. 6, 25. Gerrymandering, in short, helps create the polarized political system so many Americans loathe. And gerrymandering is, as so many Justices have emphasized before, anti-democratic in the most profound sense. See supra, at 7–8. In our government, “all political power flows from the people.” Arizona State Legislature, 576 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 35). And that means, as Alexander Hamilton once said, “that the people should choose whom they please to govern them.” 2 Debates on the Constitution 257 (J. Elliot ed. 1891). But in Maryland and North Carolina they cannot do so. In Maryland, election in and election out, there are 7 Democrats and 1 Republican in the congressional delegation. In North Carolina, however the political winds blow, there are 10

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