No One Is Prepared for the New Gerrymanders

Toward the end of the last decade, in Rucho v. Common Cause, the Supreme Court’s Republican-appointed justices effectively abolished constitutional limits on partisan gerrymandering. But don’t worry about it, Chief Justice John Roberts told the country: You, the citizens, can fix this problem yourselves! States “are actively addressing the issue on a number of fronts,” Roberts promised, and Congress isn’t far behind. “The avenue for reform established by the Framers,” he assured readers, “and used by Congress in the past, remains open.”

Two years later, this passage reads like a twisted joke....