Culture

Arnold Schwarzenegger Asks The Supreme Court To ‘Terminate’ The Racially-Biased Practice Of Gerrymandering

Arnold Schwarzenegger, former California Governator, spoke at an anti-gerrymandering rally on the Supreme Court steps on Tuesday. Generally, the word “gerrymandering” — the practice by which some states (allegedly) reorganize legislative districts in a racially biased manner — often causes eyes to glaze over, so Arnold juiced his rhetoric with old-school catchphrases. As such, he declared that it was well past time to declare “hasta la vista” to gerrymandering, and he duly called upon SCOTUS to deem the practice unconstitutional. Or rather, to “terminate” it. Here’s more of what he said:

“It’s a fixed system — that’s what gerrymandering is all about. And this is why I say that the only one that can fix it is the Supreme Court, and that’s why we’re here today, at the Supreme Court … You know it’s a system where the politicians are picking the voters, rather than the voters picking the politicians. So I say it’s time to say hasta la vista to gerrymandering. And it is time to terminate gerrymandering.”

The fight against gerrymandering is heating up after multiple states have been called out by SCOTUS for the shady practice. President Obama’s also recently devoted himself to the cause with an eye toward mid-term elections and helping Democrats pick up seats in Congress.

Arnold is, of course, a registered Republican but declined to vote for Trump, which ignited an ongoing feud that saw the president mock his Celebrity Apprentice successor’s ratings at February’s National Prayer Breakfast. And now, Arnold’s trashing gerrymandering, which is a tactic notoriously used by GOP-led state legislatures to maintain control of their party’s seats. So in effect, Arnold’s calling out Republicans, and he wants SCOTUS to outlaw gerrymandering because — as he states in the below clip — “Congress will never, ever fix this problem.”

(Via ABC News & The Hill)