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A28 u.s. news
Dialuna 4 Juli 2022

Abortion ruling puts spotlight on gerrymandered legislatures

Court’s majority in its June to do so under new districts
24 abortion decision, Justice in place for the 2022 elec-
Samuel Alito noted that 30 tions, according to an analy-
states had prohibited abor- sis by PlanScore, a nonprofit
tion when the 1973 Roe v. that uses election data to rate
Wade ruling “short-circuit- the partisan tilt of legislative
ed the democratic process,” districts.
usurped lawmakers and im-
posed abortion rights nation- “Democracy is distorted in
wide. Wisconsin because of these
maps,” Assembly Minority
“Our decision returns the is- Leader Greta Neubauer said.
sue of abortion to those leg-
islative bodies, and it allows In 2018, Democrats won ev-
women on both sides of the ery major statewide office,
abortion issue to seek to af- including governor and at-
fect the legislative process by torney general, races where
influencing public opinion, gerrymandering isn’t in play.
lobbying legislators, voting, But they have not been able
and running for office,” Alito to overcome heavily ger-
wrote. rymandered state legislative
Abortion already is an issue districts since Republicans
in Wisconsin’s gubernatorial won control of the statehouse
and legislative elections. A re- during the midterm elections
cent Wisconsin poll showed in 2010.
(AP) - In overturning a mandering, in which Repub- sity who analyzes redistrict- a majority supported legal
half-century of nation- licans or Democrats manipu- ing data. abortion in most or all cases. “If we had a truly democrat-
wide legal protection for late the boundaries of voting But a fight is brewing over an ic system in Wisconsin, we
abortion, the U.S. Su- districts to give their candi- Meanwhile, “in states where 1849 state law — which had would be in a different situ-
preme Court ruled that dates an edge. Democrats have gerryman- been unenforceable until Roe ation,” she said. “We would
Roe v. Wade had been dered, it’s going to help v. Wade was overruled — that be overturning this criminal
wrongly decided and that The result is that many leg- probably make abortion laws bans abortion except to save abortion ban right now”
it was time to “return the islatures are more heavily more liberal than people the life of the woman.
issue of abortion to the partisan than the state’s pop- would like,” he added. Republican state Rep. Donna
people’s elected represen- ulation as a whole. Gerry- Democratic Gov. Tony Evers Rozar, a former cardiac nurse
tatives” in the states. mandering again flourished A majority of Americans sup- is backing a court challenge who backs abortion restric-
as politicians used the 2020 port abortion access in gen- to overturn the law, enacted tions, said gerrymandering
Whether those elected of- census data to redraw dis- eral, though many say there just a year after Wisconsin shouldn’t stop political par-
ficials are truly representa- tricts that could benefit their should be some restrictions, gained statehood. He also ties from running good can-
tive of the people is a matter party both for this year’s elec- according to public opinion called a special legislative ses- didates to represent their
of debate, thanks to another tions and the next decade. polls. sion in June to repeal it. But districts. She expects a robust
high court decision that has the Republican-led Assem- abortion debate during the
enabled control of state leg- In some swing states with States have sometimes been bly and Senate adjourned in campaign to carry into the
islatures to be skewed to the Republican-led legislatures, viewed as laboratories for de- a matter of seconds without 2023 legislative session.
right or left. such as Michigan and Wis- mocracy — institutions most taking action.
consin, “arguably gerryman- closely connected to the peo- “This is an issue that is so
In June 2019, three years be- dering really is the primary ple where public policies are Wisconsin’s legislative cham- critical to come back to the
fore its momentous abortion reason that abortion is likely tested, take root and poten- bers had one of the nation’s states, because each state then
ruling, the Supreme Court to be illegal,” said Chris War- tially spread. strongest Republican advan- can elect people that will rep-
decided that it has no role shaw, a political scientist at tages during the past decade resent their values.” Rozar
in restraining partisan gerry- George Washington Univer- Writing for the Supreme and are projected to continue said.

Holiday getaway pushes US airport traffic to pandemic high

(AP) — The Fourth of July recurring flight delays and checkpoints at domestic air- summer schedules in an ef- they scramble to hire and
holiday weekend is jam- cancellations. ports during the seven days fort to reduce the inconve- train more pilots.
ming U.S. airports with ending July 1. That was close niences — and backlash —
their biggest crowds since Friday’s passenger volume to the seven-day average of caused by flight delays and The headaches continued
the pandemic began in marked a 13% increase from roughly 2.38 million passen- cancellations They are using Friday, although they weren’t
2020. July 1 last year, which fell on gers during the same 2019 larger planes on average to as bad as they have been at
the Thursday before Fourth period, according to the TSA. carry more passengers while other times in recent months.
About 2.49 million passen- of July. This year’s number
gers went through security of passengers going through But airlines have struggled to
checkpoints at U.S. airports U.S. airports also eclipsed keep up with the surging de-
Friday, surpassing the previ- the 2.35 million screened at mand amid staffing shortages
ous pandemic-era record of security checkpoints on the and an assortment of other
2.46 million reached earlier Friday before the Fourth of issues that have resulted in
in the week, according to fig- July in 2019, but that was recurring waves of exasperat-
ures released Saturday by the nearly a week ahead of Inde- ing flight delays and cancel-
Transportation Security Ad- pendence Day. lations that have been trans-
ministration. forming some vacations into
In a more telling sign of how nightmarish ordeals.
The escalating numbers show close U.S. air travel is revert-
leisure travelers aren’t being ing back to pre-pandemic Many airlines, including
deterred from flying by rising conditions, an average of Delta, Southwest and Jet-
fares, the ongoing spread of 2.33 million passengers have Blue, have responded to the
COVID-19 or worries about passed through security challenge by curtailing their