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To be clear, cases like Cooper establish that federal courts may sometimes intervene when states draw racial gerrymanders, meaning that voters were sorted because of their race. But cases challenging partisan gerrymanders — maps that sort voters based on whether they are Democrats or Republicans — will typically be dismissed by federal courts thanks to Rucho.
Though the full Court has never struck down a partisan gerrymander for engaging in viewpoint discrimination, at least five justices have, at various times, endorsed the view that such gerrymanders violate the First Amendment. As Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her Rucho dissent, the First Amendment “gives its greatest protection to political beliefs, speech, and association,” but partisan gerrymanders “subject certain voters to ‘disfavored treatment’ — again, counting their votes for less — precisely because of ‘their voting history [and] their expression of political views.’”
Privately, Biden was also furious about the report’s comments on his memory. During a private meeting with House Democrats at their policy retreat in Virginia earlier Thursday, Biden grew especially animated when asked how he was doing,
“How the f--- could I forget the day my son died? Of course I remember everything,” he said, according two people with knowledge of his remarks who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a closed-door conversation.
At his White House remarks, Biden began by stressing that the report concluded that charges were not merited, even citing specific page numbers to bolster his case.
“I was pleased to see he reached the firm conclusion that no charges should be brought against me in this case,” the president said. “This was an exhaustive investigation.”
He also highlighted a separate investigation into former president Donald Trump’s own handling of classified documents, and the differences between them — notably that Trump allegedly sought to keep the documents even when authorities asked for them back and that he, unlike Biden, now faces criminal charges.