Una impervia strada da Bandemer a Rucho: tutela della democrazia rappresentativa e valore della legittimazione giudiziale alla prova del partisan gerrymandering

A rugged road from Bandemer to Rucho: the defence of representative democracy and the value of judicial legitimacy challenging partisan gerrymandering

Abstract

The paper aims to enlight the impact of modern partisan gerrymandering on the American representative democracy. In a route which tries to trace the debate on the subject since the independence, attempts will be made to articulate and review the main problems in which the courts have fallen through the years, and above all, the search for the judicially manageable standard to adjudicate those cases. Among all, the Supreme Court’s decisions in Vieth and Rucho will be examined trying to detect a questionable use of the political question doctrine bent to an originalist view of the Constitution. Conversely, the paper, enjoying the most recent academic production, tries to explore new ways to face the partisan threat, emphasizing the major differences between old and recent p.g., which led the least to be qualified by many as the most dangerous tool to reverse the democratic principle.