The Hofeller Files

Granted, there’s nothing in them about risotto preparation or Neera Tanden’s feelings towards David Brock, but these files are still pretty important:

More than a year after his death, a cache of computer files saved on the hard drives of Thomas Hofeller, a prominent Republican redistricting strategist, is becoming public.

Republican state lawmakers in North Carolina fought in court to keep copies of these maps, spreadsheets and other documents from entering the public record. But some files have already come to light in recent months through court filings and news reports.

They have been cited as evidence of gerrymandering that got political maps thrown out in North Carolina, and they have raised questions about Hofeller’s role in the Trump administration’s failed push for a census citizenship question.

Now more of the files are available online through a website called The Hofeller Files, where Hofeller’s daughter, Stephanie Hofeller, published a link to her copy of the files on Sunday after first announcing her plans in a tweet last month.

“These are matters that concern the people and their franchise and their access to resources. This is, therefore, the property of the people,” Hofeller told NPR. “I won’t be satisfied that we the people have found everything until we the people have had a look at it in its entirety.”

Given how damning what’s already been released is…

The problem, of course, is that these documents will face the shell game conservative judges have been running from time immemorial:

• [Evidence is presented that a state practice is grossly discriminatory.]
• “Sorry, the state does not violate the Constitution unless there is clear evidence of willful discrimination in a particular case.”
• [Dispositive evidence is presented that there was willful discrimination in a particular case.]
• ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

At least on the most important elements of the Republican ratfucking machine — vote suppression, voter purges, gerrymanders that permanently entrench Republican governments irrespective of the will of the voters — the current median vote on the Supreme Court is Mr. LOL Nothing Matters no matter what evidence comes forward. But politics is a long game, and it’s worth having the information out there.