Cite as: 588 U. S. ____ (2019)
31
Opinion of the Court
can address the problem of partisan gerrymandering
because it must.” 585 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 12). That is
not the test of our authority under the Constitution; that
document instead “confines the federal courts to a properly
judicial role.” Town of Chester v. Laroe Estates, Inc., 581
U. S. ___, ___ (2017) (slip op., at 4).
What the appellees and dissent seek is an unprecedented
expansion of judicial power. We have never struck down a
partisan gerrymander as unconstitutional—despite various requests over the past 45 years. The expansion of
judicial authority would not be into just any area of controversy, but into one of the most intensely partisan aspects of American political life. That intervention would
be unlimited in scope and duration—it would recur over
and over again around the country with each new round of
districting, for state as well as federal representatives.
Consideration of the impact of today’s ruling on democratic
principles cannot ignore the effect of the unelected and
politically unaccountable branch of the Federal Government assuming such an extraordinary and unprecedented
role. See post, at 32–33.
Our conclusion does not condone excessive partisan
gerrymandering. Nor does our conclusion condemn complaints about districting to echo into a void. The States,
for example, are actively addressing the issue on a number
of fronts. In 2015, the Supreme Court of Florida struck
down that State’s congressional districting plan as a violation of the Fair Districts Amendment to the Florida Constitution. League of Women Voters of Florida v. Detzner,
172 So. 3d 363 (2015). The dissent wonders why we can’t
do the same. See post, at 31. The answer is that there is
no “Fair Districts Amendment” to the Federal Constitution. Provisions in state statutes and state constitutions
can provide standards and guidance for state courts to
apply. (We do not understand how the dissent can maintain that a provision saying that no districting plan “shall