Partisan gerrymandering is the practice of drawing electoral district boundaries to advantage one political party over another. In Rucho v. Common Cause (2019), the U.S. Supreme Court held 5-4 that partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of federal courts — meaning federal judges cannot strike down maps purely because they favor one party. State courts applying state constitutional law may still review partisan gerrymandering claims. The Rucho ruling created a critical legal distinction: maps successfully defended as partisan (not racial) gerrymanders are effectively immune from federal judicial review, which is why the racial vs. partisan distinction is so heavily litigated in redistricting cases.