Politics with Amy Walter: Those Who Draw the Lines...Have the Power

The Takeaway

On this week's Politics with Amy Walter: The fight over redistricting and who gets to wield the pen.

Slay the Dragon,” chronicles the challenges to congressional maps in several states that have been accused of partisan gerrymandering including Michigan and Wisconsin. In Michigan, voters approved a ballot measure in 2018 to take map-drawing power out of the hands of the legislature and put it into the hands of an independent commission. The film also follows the legal team involved in Gill v. Whitford as that case from Wisconsin makes its way to the Supreme Court of the United States. 

Barak Goodman is the co-director of Slay the Dragon. The film will premiere later this month at The Tribeca Film Festival.

Scott Walker was the governor of Wisconsin from 2011 to 2019. During his tenure, Republican lawmakers created new congressional districts which he then signed into law. Walker is now the Finance Chairman of The National Republican Redistricting Trust, but he's also been accused by critics of partisan gerrymandering. Amy Walter speaks to Walker about why he decided to continue to focus on an issue that has embroiled him in so much controversy.

Eric Holder, the Attorney General under President Obama, recently wrote an editorial for The Washington Post in which he announced that he will not be running for president, and instead will focus his energies on the “fight to end gerrymandering.”

We talk to Holder about why he thinks this is a such an important issue for Democrats to combat right now. 

On March 26th, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments in this term’s gerrymandering case. Amy Howe, the co-founder of SCOTUSblog, brings us up to speed on what happened and what to watch for. 

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