This is an important victory in North Carolina’s fight against the Republican’s overt attempts to suppress voting. There is much to unpack here with this ruling and how it will impact North Carolina’s voting structure.
The Hill 6/27/16
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to review a case challenging North Carolina’s use of race when drawing voter districts.
North Carolina lawmakers are accused of relying too heavily on race in drawing new districts as part of a 2011 redrawing of legislative lines.
North Carolina citizens bringing the case forward argued that the redrawn lines were a “textbook example of racial gerrymandering” that violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
They claimed North Carolina lawmakers packed black voters from “disparate black communities” into the 1st Congressional District and 12th Congressional District.
This ruling also plays a role in the far right’s ongoing mission of turning the state further to the right and highlights differences in levels of Republican radicalism.
Yahoo News 6/27/16
A federal court ruled in February that race was the predominant factor in drawing the two districts and ordered them redrawn. A new map of 13 congressional districts was used in an unusual June 7 primary, separate from most other races.
A high court ruling also should influence a separate court challenge of North Carolina's state legislative districts. North Carolina is a swing state whose voters split almost evenly in the last two presidential elections. But the GOP's maps created veto-proof majorities in the state legislature, and the congressional delegation now has 3 Democrats to 10 Republicans.
The latest court-ordered map essentially created a new district without an incumbent, but the Republican-leaning territory is expected to help the GOP maintain this 10-3 edge. It also upended the former territories of two Republican members of Congress, pitting them against each other in the primary. Rep. George Holding beat Rep. Renee Ellmers after groups including the Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity funded ads questioning her conservative credentials. Holding is expected to beat a Democrat in November.
National impact and State Legislative seats.
WRAL 6/27/16
In the order taking the case, justices writing for the Supreme Court noted the split between the federal district court in Greensboro, which found the districts unconstitutional, and the state Supreme Court, which upheld the lines.
The case is one of at least two redistricting cases the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear this fall. The other comes from Virginia.
In addition to broad national implications, the court's findings could have an impact on state legislative seats. A similar case is pending before a different three-judge panel, in which plaintiffs have asked the court to find that lawmakers relied too heavily on race when they drew North Carolina state legislative districts.
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LAWNEWZ 6/27/16
In the wake of the huge Supreme Court decisions that came out on Monday, the Court also announced that it would hear a case concerning North Carolina’s alleged gerrymandering. North Carolina officials are accused of using race to redraw certain districts as part of a 2011 redrawing. The plaintiffs for the case are 3 voters, David Harris from North Carolina’s first congressional district, Christine Bowser and Samuel Love, both from North Carolina’s second district.
Citizens of the state say that the redrawing is a ‘textbook example of racial gerrymandering and that it violates their 14th amendment rights. These citizens also claim that black communities have been packed into the 1st and 12th Congressional districts. Both districts are represented by Democrats.
Republican lawmakers in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin, Florida, and Texas have also attempted to shift their districts to keep themselves in power. The North Carolina lawsuit is also not the first to be brought forward. Wisconsin voters have also brought forward a lawsuit as well as Virginia voters.
Thanks for reading, please look for more on this story in next Sunday’s North Carolina Open Thread.