title:  Bad News, Republicans: Two Scholars Figured Out How To Defeat Your Gerrymandering
text: Named for Founding Father Elbridge Gerry who signed a law in 1812 as Massachusetts Governor creating distorted voting districts in shapes such as that of a salamander, gerrymandering has been the primary tool of the Republican Party to guarantee and keep power in recent years.Despite getting more votes from the American people, Democrats still wound up with fewer seats in the House of Representatives than Republicans. Republicans even gained dominance over state legislatures in Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin, and several others   all thanks to deviously drawn voting districts that weaken the impact of Democratic voters while giving a total advantage to the GOP.Twelve years ago, the Supreme Court had difficulty deciding whether districts in Pennsylvania had been gerrymandered or not, leading Justice Anthony Kennedy to throw his hands up in frustration that the Court could not grant relief to those who were screwed over by conniving lawmakers. But he did call for seeking a remedy that would nail lawmakers to the wall for gerrymandering. And now Wisconsin Republicans and Republicans across the nation are panicking because a pair of academic scholars have finally found a solution and it all has to do with the nemesis of conservatives everywhere: math.According to ThinkProgress:In a paper published in the University of Chicago Law Review last year, law professor Nicholas Stephanopoulos and political scientist Eric McGhee propose a mathematical formula judges can use to identify suspect maps  an objective test that can be used by judges across the country to sort suspect maps from permissible ones. A hundred different judges can examine the same maps and, provided that they are all skilled at arithmetic, all reach identical conclusions about which maps fall within an acceptable range and which ones should be presumed to be unconstitutional.In other words, Republicans are f*cked if the Supreme Court adopts the formula to make rulings in gerrymandering cases.Wisconsin Republicans have launched legal attacks against the formula, but a three judge panel that includes two Republican-appointed judges have dismissed attempts by GOP lawyers to have the case killed before a full trial proceeds.If the formula is successfully adopted by the judicial branch as the standard of determining if lawmakers unfairly drew gerrymandered districts, it could mark a critical turning point that gives Democrats a chance to compete fairly in red states again, and that could devastate the Republican Party for many elections to conservative lawmakers will have to learn how to campaign competitively instead of relying on cheating to win. Featured image via baystateconservativenews.com 