1st LD: U.S. Supreme Court rules federal courts cannot police partisan gerrymandering

WASHINGTON, June 27 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that partisan-gerrymandering challenges to electoral maps are political questions that are not reviewable in federal courts.

The 5-4 decision effectively takes the courts out of the politics of gerrymandering, leaving the states and Congress with the responsibility to regulate the practice legislatively.

Chief Justice John Roberts and the court's other conservatives said partisan election maps drawn by North Carolina Republicans and Maryland Democrats are constitutional despite their one-sided nature. Enditem