Republican officials in Indiana stood up recently for their beliefs, their state, and democracy.

These excerpts from the NYT spell it out, explaining why the State Senate voted down a bill to redistrict,

“ “I believe the bill on its face is unconstitutional,” said State Senator Greg Walker, a Republican who opposes redistricting and who recently reported a swatting incident at his home, a form of harassment in which law enforcement was called to respond to a nonexistent emergency.

Another Republican opposed to the new map, State Senator Spencer Deery, said that “I see no justification that outweighs the harms it would inflict upon the people’s faith in the integrity of our elections and our system of government.” He added that “it’s time to say no to pressure from Washington, D.C.,” and that “it’s time to say no to outsiders who are trying to run our state.”

A higher moral standard won the day this time,

““By any standard of good governance, this is an unprecedented and profoundly cynical exercise of political power,” State Senator J.D. Ford, a Democrat who opposes redistricting, said during a committee hearing earlier in the week. “And it’s the old phrase: Just because you can doesn’t mean that you should.””

Amen.