As Gerrymanders Get Worse, Legal Options to Overturn Them Dwindle
The New York Times
Persuading judges to undo skewed political maps was never easy. A shifting judicial landscape is making it harder.
Voting-rights advocates are in a North Carolina state court in Raleigh this month, arguing in three lawsuits that Republican gerrymanders of the State Legislature and the state’s 14 seats in the House of Representatives are so extreme that they violate the state Constitution.
Only two years ago, some of the same lawyers were arguing that remarkably similar Republican gerrymanders of the same legislature, drawn a decade ago, violated the same clauses of the constitution. That trial ended with a resounding verdict in their favor, but only after the gerrymandered maps were used for almost a decade.
Winning those kinds of cases, however belatedly, now appears much more of a long shot. Experts say that even as gerrymanders become ever more egregious, the legal avenues to overturn them are becoming narrower.
The powerful storm, fueled by a whirling mass of cold air originating from the Arctic, was expected to leave much of the southern United States in the low-teens or single-digit degrees.
In New York, private restaurants in luxury towers are a popular amenity. The public cannot eat there, and residents only drop in occasionally.
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Officials said the agent was shot on Interstate 91, which was closed for several hours near the border with Canada.
Mayor Eric Adams of New York City, a Democrat, declined to say anything negative about Donald J. Trump’s early executive orders, saying he would bring any concerns directly to the president.
“So many of you have never seen an event like this,” Louisiana’s state climatologist warned, with New Orleans facing possibly the most snow it has ever seen.
Former presidents, members of Congress, and tech C.E.O.s were among those present to witness Mr. Trump take the oath of office.
“We’re not leaving the fight,” he told supporters and members of his staff as he prepared to leave Washington.
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Some evacuees from the Eaton fire have been allowed back into their homes, only to find that smoke and ash have made living there impossible for now.
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The incoming president has told allies he wants to seize momentum and avoid the missteps of his first administration.
A lawyer for Mayor Eric Adams argued in court documents that Damian Williams, the former federal prosecutor who charged the mayor with bribery, had brought the case for his own political benefit.
Peter Forrest was the charismatic lead singer of 24-7 Spyz, which did shows with Jane’s Addiction. Last week, Mr. Forrest, 64, was found beaten to death in the ambulette he drove for a living.
As Donald J. Trump prepares to take the oath of office for a second time, much of the world seems to be bowing down to him and demoralized opponents are rethinking the future.