Judges Strike Down N.C. Congressional Districts as Overly Partisan | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: This post was created by the staff for the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

    A federal three-judge panel has struck down North Carolina's latest congressional election map. The judges accepted critics' argument that the map was overly partisan in favoring Republicans.

    The 191-page majority opinion blocks North Carolina from using the current map for any future congressional elections. It orders the General Assembly to approve a new congressional map by Jan. 24. Lawmakers must file their plan with the three-judge panel by Jan. 29. The court order also sets out the judges' plan to appoint a "special master" to draw an alternative map.

    The 2016 congressional map "constitutes a partisan gerrymander in violation of the First Amendment, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and Article I, Sections 2 and 4 of the Constitution," according to the majority opinion. "Legislative Defendants do not dispute that the General Assembly intended for the 2016 Plan to favor supporters of Republican candidates and disfavor supporters of non-Republican candidates. Nor could they.

    "The Republican-controlled North Carolina General Assembly expressly directed the legislators and consultant responsible for drawing the 2016 Plan to rely on 'political data' - past election results specifying whether, and to what extent, particular voting districts had favored Republican or Democratic candidates, and therefore were likely to do so in the future - to draw a districting plan that would ensure Republican candidates would prevail in the vast majority of the state's congressional districts."

    "Legislative Defendants also do not argue - and have never argued - that the 2016 Plan's intentional disfavoring of supporters of non-Republican candidates advances any democratic, constitutional, or public interest," the opinion continues. "Nor could they. Neither the Supreme Court nor any lower court has recognized any such interest furthered by partisan gerrymandering - 'the drawing of legislative district lines to subordinate adherents of one political party and entrench a rival party in power.'

    "[P]artisan gerrymandering runs contrary to numerous fundamental democratic principles and individual rights enshrined in the Constitution," according to the majority opinion.

    The judges split on details of the ruling. While all three judges agreed that critics had proven a case against the congressional map, opinion author Judge James Wynn and Judge Earl Britt, both appointed by Democratic presidents, accepted all portions of the majority opinion. Judge William Osteen, appointed by a Republican, rejected some of the critics' arguments. Osteen also disagreed with the decision to appoint a special master before state lawmakers have had a chance to redraw the rejected map.

    The 2016 map struck down in the consolidated cases of Common Cause v. Rucho and League of Women Voters v. Rucho resulted from an earlier court decision that threw out the congressional election map North Carolina used in 2012 and 2014. A separate three-judge panel rejected that earlier map because of concerns about racial gerrymandering.

    As lawmakers address this latest ruling on the congressional map, they also await a separate three-judge panel's latest pronouncement on legislative redistricting. That panel heard arguments Friday in Covington v. North Carolina. The case involves legislative districts thrown out because of concerns about racial gerrymandering.
Go Back


Leave a Guest Comment

Your Name or Alias
Your Email Address ( your email address will not be published)
Enter Your Comment ( no code or urls allowed, text only please )




Rare Illegal Ballots Still Matter Carolina Journal, Editorials, Op-Ed & Politics The Furor Over Student Loan Forgiveness


HbAD0

Latest Op-Ed & Politics

far left sugar daddy has also funded anti-Israel groups and politicians in US
Be careful what you wish for, you may get it
America needs to wake up and get its priorities right
Former President Donald Trump suggested this week that if he becomes president again, he might allow Prince Harry to be deported.
It's a New Year, which means it's time to make resolutions — even for prominent evangelical leaders. The Babylon Bee asked the following well-known figures in the faith what they hope to accomplish in 2024:
Vice President Kamala Harris will visit a Minnesota Planned Parenthood clinic, reportedly the first time a president or vice president has visited an abortion facility.
An eight-mile stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville has been temporarily closed due to a string of “human and bear interactions,” the National Parks Service announced.
University of Wisconsin tried to punish conservatives for the fact that liberals regularly commit crimes to silence opposition
most voters think EU officials not doing a good job on illegal immigration

HbAD1

Come from behind by GOP candidate is a blueprint to 2024
Biden spending and energy policies to blame
Tuberculosis carried by illegal invaders has already infected Texas cattle
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said this week that the only campaign promise President Joe Biden has delivered on as president is the complete dismantling of the U.S. southern border.
Hamas is reeling after losing two of their most cherished leaders on the same day: military commander Saleh al-Arouri, and Harvard President Claudine Gay.
President Joe Biden’s brother told the Internal Revenue Service that Hunter Biden told him he was in business with a “protege of President Xi,” referring to the leader of China, according to notes by an IRS investigator that were divulged during a congressional interview of Jim Biden.
Gov. Roy Cooper seeks a temporary restraining order to block a law changing the composition of the State Board of Elections.
X owner Elon Musk mocked a news segment from ABC News this week that promoted President Joe Biden’s talking points about the Democrat-led Senate’s failed border bill, which critics and many experts have said would make the situation on the border worse.

HbAD2

 
Back to Top