North Carolina gerrymandering bill pits black judges against other incumbents

[turbinetree]

Source: Think Progress

While the North Carolina legislature is working under a tight deadline to redraw election districts that courts have struck down for discriminating against black voters, it also made time to pass a measure to gerrymander state trial courts. The bill could result in a dramatic reduction in the number of African-American judges and other judges of color.

The North Carolina House of Representatives passed a bill today that would redraw the boundaries of the state’s court districts, over the objection of judges and other stakeholders. Rep. Marcia Morey (D), a former judge, said at a North Carolina General Assembly session on Wednesday that this bill is part of the legislature’s “systematic attack on our independent judiciary.”

Jim Blaine, an aide and “right hand man” to the president of the state senate, told judges in August that the goal of the bill is to get more Republican judges on the bench.

Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/judicial-gerrymandering-north-carolina-56f15b92f01f/

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Jim Blaine is a ........................fill in the blank

[PdxSean]

1. Stunned at the honesty.

"Jim Blaine, an aide and “right hand man” to the president of the state senate, told judges in August that the goal of the bill is to get more Republican judges on the bench."

Frankly, I'm stunned at the honesty. I've practiced in state and federal courts, and over the years I've slowly become convinced that many judges, not all, but many judges are essentially politicians in robes, duty bound to a political party instead of their oaths of office.

[barbtries]

3. yeah.

remember it was a lawmaker from NC who was so brutally honest on the Daily Show that Aasif Mandvi said, "You know we're filming this, right?"

http://www.cc.com/video-clips/dxhtvk/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-suppressing-the-vote

when he had to resign after this he blamed "political correctness"

[barbtries]

2. i just don't know

if they make republicans anywhere else quite as bad as they have grown them here lately.

we must vote them out. they will destroy a beautiful state, and they are not following the will of the people either, not the majority of the people, even here in NC.