TNR has an article up at How to Halt Gerrymandering -The two keys to creating fairer congressional districts in 2012. The omission of the discussion of provisions of the Voting Rights act that for the most part only the Southern States are is notable. These provision combined with pre clearance from the Justice Department for plans that have Majority Minority racial districts has quite an effect.
It goes beyond congressional districts to State legislature districts and beyond. The result being that one party is starting to get quite an advantage in their Farm league. That is the people that in the future might be running in these future congressional races. When one packs all the blacks you can into a district it makes the surrounding districts much whiter and in reality much more Republican friendly. This also has an effect on party building as a whole.
Now maybe the public policy and trades off are a net plus for this system. However it seems an discussion we really try not to have. Until that occurs at least in major part of the USA a reform of redistricting will not happen.
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