"Gerrymandering, in U.S. politics, the practice of drawing the boundaries of electoral districts in a way that gives one political party an unfair advantage over its rivals (political or partisan gerrymandering) or that dilutes the voting power of members of ethnic or linguistic minority groups (racial gerrymandering). The term is derived from the name of Gov. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, whose administration enacted a law in 1812 defining new state senatorial districts. The law consolidated the Federalist Party vote in a few districts and thus gave disproportionate representation to Democratic-Republicans. The outline of one of these districts was thought to resemble a salamander. A satirical cartoon by Elkanah Tisdale that appeared in the Boston Gazette graphically transformed the districts into a fabulous animal, “The Gerry-mander,” fixing the term in the popular imagination."
From https://www.britannica.com/topic/gerrymandering; accessed August 15, 2024.
What is Gerrymandering and Why Did the Supreme Court Rule on It? - New York Times June 27, 2019
"The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the federal courts cannot decide a question with momentous political consequences: Whether congressional district maps in Maryland and North Carolina that were drawn specifically to tilt political power in favor of one party — a practice known as partisan gerrymandering — are acceptable.
District courts had thrown the maps out as unconstitutional, but the decisions were appealed. When the Supreme Court heard arguments in the two cases in March, the justices seemed divided on partisan lines over key issues, much as they had during an earlier hearing on the Maryland case last year.
In the end, the Supreme Court decided, 5-4, that the question of partisan gerrymandering was a political one that must be resolved by the elected branches of government, and not a legal question that the federal courts should decide.
Here are answers to some common questions about rigged electoral maps, and the Revolutionary patriot for whom they are (perhaps unfairly) named."
From https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/27/us/what-is-gerrymandering.html; accessed August 15, 2024.
Gerrymandering Explained
'After the Census Bureau released detailed population and demographic data from the 2020 census, states and local governments began the once-a-decade process of drawing new voting district boundaries known as redistricting. And gerrymandering — when those boundaries are drawn with the intention of influencing who gets elected — followed.
The latest redistricting cycle was the first since the Supreme Court’s 2019 ruling that gerrymandering for party advantage cannot be challenged in federal court. Here are six things to know about partisan gerrymandering and how it impacts our democracy.'
Updated June 9, 2023.
From https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/gerrymandering-explained ; accessed August 15, 2024.