Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former governor of California and star of the “Terminator” movies, rallied Tuesday outside the Supreme Court to demand justices outlaw extreme partisanship in drawing legislative maps.
Known as gerrymandering, the process of drawing maps for political advantage has long been part of American politics, but voting-rights advocates say things are getting worse because technology is getting so precise.
Mr. Schwarzenegger, who as governor pushed California to move redistricting from politicians’ hands to a citizen commission, said it’s up to the Supreme Court to solve the problem for the whole country.
“It’s time to terminate gerrymandering,” he said.
Mr. Schwarzenegger said high re-election rates are proof that something’s wrong, but said the system is “fixed” and nobody in Congress will change it.
“Herpes and colonoscopies are more popular than Congress, but for some miracle reason, 98 percent of them get re-elected,” he said. “It’s a system where the politicians are picking the voters, rather than the voters picking the politicians.”
SEE ALSO: Supreme Court struggles with judges’ role in drawing political maps
The Supreme Court heard oral argument on a case out of Wisconsin Tuesday where Republicans packed Democratic voters into a few districts while spreading GOP voters out across the state, maximizing the number of seats Republicans won.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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