IN SWING STATES MAPS GIVE G.O.P

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A few weeks after Texasadopted the most restrictive abor-tion law in the nation, Dr. AndreaPalmer delivered terrible news toa Fort Worth patient who wasmidway through her pregnancy.

The fetus had a rare neural tubedefect. The brain would not de-

velop, and the infant would die atbirth or shortly afterward. Carry-ing the pregnancy to term wouldbe emotionally grueling andwould raise the mother’s risk ofblood clots and severe postpar-tum bleeding, the doctor warned.

But the patient was past sixweeks’ gestation, and under thenew law, an abortion was not anoption in Texas because the wom-

an was not immediately facing alife-threatening medical crisis orrisk of permanent disability.

“So we look at them like a tick-ing time bomb and wait for thecomplications to develop,” Dr.Palmer said of her patients.

In this case, the woman had themeans to travel, and she obtainedan abortion in another state, anoption unavailable to many low-

income and working-class wom-en.

Texas’ new measure was in-tended to impose stringent limitson abortion. But it is also affectingwomen who have no desire for ter-mination but are experiencingmedically risky pregnancies.Many doctors say they are unableto discuss the procedure as an op-

Texas Doctors Say Abortion Law Complicates Risky Pregnancies

By RONI CARYN RABIN

Continued on Page A13

Republicans are locking innewly gerrymandered maps forthe legislatures in four battle-ground states that are set to se-cure the party’s control in thestatehouse chambers over thenext decade, fortifying the G.O.P.against even the most sweepingpotential Democratic wave elec-tions.

In Texas, North Carolina, Ohioand Georgia, Republican statelawmakers have either createdsupermajorities capable of over-riding a governor’s veto or whit-tled down competitive districts sosignificantly that Republicans’ ad-vantage is virtually impenetrable— leaving voters in narrowly di-vided states powerless to changethe leadership of their legisla-tures.

Although much of the attentionon this year’s redistrictingprocess has focused on gerryman-dered congressional maps, thenew maps being drafted in statelegislatures have been just as dis-torted.

And statehouses have taken ontowering importance: With thefederal government gridlocked,these legislatures now serve asthe country’s policy laboratory,crafting bills on abortion, guns,voting restrictions and other is-sues that shape the national politi-cal debate.

“This is not your founding fa-thers’ gerrymander,” said ChrisLamar, a senior legal counsel atthe Campaign Legal Center whofocuses on redistricting. “This issomething more intense and dura-ble and permanent.”

This redistricting cycle, the firstone in a decade, builds on a politi-cal trend that accelerated in 2011,when Republicans in swing statesincluding Pennsylvania, Wiscon-sin and Michigan drew highly ger-rymandered state legislativemaps.

Since those maps were enacted,Republicans have held bothhouses of state government in allthree places for the entire decade.They never lost control of a singlechamber, even as Democrats wonsome of the states’ races for presi-dent, governor and Senate.

All three of those Northernstates are likely to see some shiftback toward parity this year, witha new independent commissiondrawing Michigan’s maps, andDemocratic governors in Wiscon-sin and Pennsylvania will proba-bly force the process to be com-pleted by the courts.

Gerrymandering is a tool usedby both parties in swing states aswell as less competitive ones.Democrats in deep-blue stateslike Illinois are moving to increasetheir advantage in legislatures,and Republicans in deep-redstates like Utah and Idaho are do-ing the same.

But in politically contestedstates where Republicans hold fullcontrol, legislators are carefullycrafting a G.O.P. future. They are

MAPS GIVE G.O.P.A STRANGLEHOLD

IN SWING STATES

FOCUS ON LEGISLATURES

Shrinking the Number ofCompetitive Districts

to Protect an Edge

By NICK CORASANITI

Continued on Page A18

GONZALO FUENTES/REUTERS

Migrants in France aimed to cross the English Channel, even after 27 died on Wednesday. Page A4.Undeterred by a Disaster

Before Zhang Gaoli was en-gulfed in accusations that he hadsexually assaulted a tennis cham-pion, he seemed to embody thequalities that the Chinese Com-munist Party prizes in officials:austere, disciplined, and impecca-bly loyal to the leader of the day.

He had climbed steadily fromrunning an oil refinery to a succes-sion of leadership posts along Chi-na’s fast-growing coast, avoidingthe scandals and controversy thatfelled other, flashily ambitious po-liticians. He became known, if foranything, for his monotone imper-sonality. On entering China’s top

leadership, he invited people tosearch for anything amiss in hisbehavior.

“Stern, low-key, taciturn,”summed up one of the few profilesof him in the Chinese media. Hisinterests, Xinhua news agencysaid, included books, chess andtennis.

Now the allegation from PengShuai, the professional tennisplayer, has cast Mr. Zhang’s pri-vate life under a blaze of interna-tional attention, making him asymbol of a political system thatprizes secrecy and control over

Leader Accused by Tennis PlayerPersonified Power in Beijing Elite

By CHRIS BUCKLEY and STEVEN LEE MYERS

Continued on Page A8

BRUNSWICK, Ga. — The law-yer was from out of town, a pros-ecutor who had spent the bulk ofher career in a large, liberal city,and she had been brought in to trythe biggest case of her career: themurder of a Black man on a sunnyafternoon by three white men justoutside a small city pinned to theSouth Georgia coastline.

Despite the evidence of racismshe had at her disposal, LindaDunikoski, the prosecutor,stunned some legal observers bylargely avoiding race during thetrial, choosing instead to hewclosely to the details of how thethree men had chased the Blackman, Ahmaud Arbery, throughtheir neighborhood.

The risks went beyond her ca-reer and a single trial. Failure toconvict in a case that many saw asan obvious act of racial violencewould reverberate well outsideGlynn County, Ga. For some, itwould be a referendum on a coun-try that appeared to have madetentative steps last summer to-ward confronting racism, only todevolve into deeper divisions.

On Wednesday, Ms. Dunikoski’sstrategy was vindicated when thejury found the three men guilty ofmurder and other charges afterdeliberating for roughly a day. Theconvicted men — Gregory McMi-chael, 65; his son Travis McMi-chael, 35; and their neighborWilliam Bryan, 52 — are now fac-ing life sentences in prison. Theyare also facing trial in February onseparate federal hate-crimecharges.

Kevin Gough, the lawyer whorepresented Mr. Bryan, creditedMs. Dunikoski with threading themost difficult of needles. She men-tioned a racial motive just onceduring the three-week trial, in herclosing argument: The men, shesaid, had attacked Mr. Arbery “be-cause he was a Black man runningdown the street.”

“She found a clever way ofbringing the issue up that would-n’t be offensive to the right-lean-ing members of the jury,” he said.“I think you can see from the ver-dict that Dunikoski made the rightcall.”

A number of legal experts, inthe moment, thought Ms.Dunikoski’s strategy to be a riskyone. But many in Brunswickthought that she had provedsavvy about what tone to strike ina Deep South community where,they said, race doesn’t have to bereferenced explicitly for everyoneto understand the implications.

Cedric King, a Black local busi-nessman, said that the evidenceagainst the defendants, particu-larly the video of Mr. Arbery’smurder, had been strong enoughto stand on its own.

“Anybody with warm blood run-ning through their veins that wit-

ANDREW SENG FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Catching a glimpse of Santa Claus as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade returned to its full 2.5-mile confetti-strewn glory. Page A15.A Sight Worth Waiting For

Continued on Page A16

In Arbery Case,Legal StrategyFull of Surprise

Prosecutor’s RestrainedApproach to Race

By RICHARD FAUSSET

WASHINGTON — PresidentWarren Harding’s blue silk paja-mas. Muhammad Ali’s boxinggloves. The Star Spangled Banner,stitched by Betsy Ross. Scriptsfrom the television show“M*A*S*H.”

Nearly two million irreplace-able artifacts that tell the Ameri-can story are housed in the Na-tional Museum of American His-tory, part of the Smithsonian Insti-tution, the biggest museumcomplex in the world.

Now, because of climatechange, the Smithsonian standsout for another reason: Its cher-ished buildings are extremely vul-nerable to flooding, and somecould eventually be underwater.

Eleven palatial Smithsonianmuseums and galleries form aring around the National Mall, thegrand two-mile park lined withelms that stretches from the Lin-coln Memorial to the U.S. Capitol.

But that land was once marsh.And as the planet warms, thebuildings face two threats. Risingseas will eventually push in waterfrom the tidal Potomac River andsubmerge parts of the Mall, scien-tists say. More immediately, in-creasingly heavy rainstormsthreaten the museums and theirpriceless holdings, particularlysince many are stored in base-

Saving HistoryWith Wet-VacsIn Washington

By CHRISTOPHER FLAVELLE

Continued on Page A14

The holiday shopping seasonhas arrived, and retailers are ring-ing it in by doing everything fromcutting prices to stocking show-rooms to lure back customers whostayed at home last year. What thebiggest of them are not doing isthe one thing the White House andmany public health experts haveasked them to: mandate that theirworkers be vaccinated.

As other industries with work-ers in public-facing roles, like air-lines and hospitals, have movedtoward requiring vaccines, retail-ers have dug in their heels, citingconcerns about a labor shortage.And a portion of one of the coun-

try’s largest work forces will re-main unvaccinated, just as shop-pers are expected to flock tostores.

At the heart of the retailers’ re-sistance is a worry about havingenough people to work. In a tightlabor market, retailers have beenoffering perks like higher wagesand better hours to prospectiveemployees in hopes of havingenough people to staff their storesand distribution centers. The Na-

tional Retail Federation, the in-dustry’s largest trade group, hasestimated that retailers will hireup to 665,000 seasonal workersthis year.

Macy’s, for example, said itplanned to hire 76,000 full- andpart-time employees this season.The retailer has offered referralbonuses of up to $500 for eachfriend or relative whom employ-ees recruit to join it. Macy’s askedcorporate staff this fall to be vacci-nated or test negative for Covid-19to enter its offices. But store work-ers are a different story.

“We have a lot of stores thathave a lot of openings, and any rul-ing that we have to mandate thosecolleagues be vaccinated prior toChristmas is just going to exacer-

Holiday Shopping Amid Unvaccinated WorkersBy LAUREN HIRSCH

and SAPNA MAHESHWARIWith Seasonal Hiring

Difficult, RetailersResist Mandate

Continued on Page A18

Clerics in Pakistan argue that a ma-drasa has changed, but some blame itfor sowing violence. PAGE A9

INTERNATIONAL A4-11

Where Taliban Went to SchoolA Times reporter moved to Australia,where he learned to embrace the na-tion’s love of swimming. PAGE B10

SPORTS B8-11

Answering the Call of the Sea

Native Americans built the Alamo, andmany were buried there. Now, a battleis brewing because Texas has rejectedefforts to protect the site. PAGE A12

NATIONAL A12-19

Fight Over the Alamo“Licorice Pizza,” Paul Thomas Ander-son’s new film, takes place in a 1970sCalifornia of bared midriffs and swing-ing hair, and failures and pretenders,Manohla Dargis writes. PAGE C1

WEEKEND ARTS C1-20

A Romp in the Valley

If the children performing in the CityBallet’s production of “George Bal-anchine’s The Nutcracker” look morelike teenagers this season, it’s becausein many cases they are. PAGE C1

Bigger Cast for Holiday Classic

David Brooks PAGE A21

OPINION A20-21Encrypted servers and secret meet-ings: The winner of the Ballon d’Or isguarded like a state secret. PAGE B8

The Best-Kept Secret in Soccer

In the Bronx, where the percentage ofmurders solved has plunged, a homi-cide victim’s family waits. PAGE A19

Grief as Cases Go Unsolved

People are returning to stores, but theatmosphere is not as carefree as it wasin times before the pandemic. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-7

Are Holiday Shoppers Back?

SPECIAL SECTION

A variant with “a big jump in evolution”is driving a spike in Covid-19 infectionsin South Africa, scientists said. PAGE A8

New Mutations Seen in Virus

Late Edition

VOL. CLXXI . . . . No. 59,254 © 2021 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2021

Today, rain ending, partial clearing,windy, colder, high 47. Tonight,cloudy, windy, cold, low 32. Tomor-row, partly sunny, windy, cold, high43. Weather map is on Page B14.

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