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| State Court Bars Using North Carolina House Map in 2020 Elections | State Court Bars Using North Carolina House Map in 2020 Elections |
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| A North Carolina state court effectively threw out the state’s map of congressional districts on Monday, saying critics were poised to show “beyond a reasonable doubt” that it was an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander favoring Republicans. | A North Carolina state court effectively threw out the state’s map of congressional districts on Monday, saying critics were poised to show “beyond a reasonable doubt” that it was an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander favoring Republicans. |
| The ruling, by a three-judge panel in Superior Court in Raleigh, technically imposes a temporary ban on using the map in primary elections next spring. But the judges signaled that they were unlikely to change their minds by inviting plaintiffs in the case to seek a summary judgment ending the case in their favor. And the judges said they were prepared to postpone primary elections should that prove necessary to further litigate the case or draw new House districts. | The ruling, by a three-judge panel in Superior Court in Raleigh, technically imposes a temporary ban on using the map in primary elections next spring. But the judges signaled that they were unlikely to change their minds by inviting plaintiffs in the case to seek a summary judgment ending the case in their favor. And the judges said they were prepared to postpone primary elections should that prove necessary to further litigate the case or draw new House districts. |
| The plaintiffs, North Carolina residents, were sponsored by the National Redistricting Foundation, an arm of a Democratic group led by former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. that is seeking to challenge Republican control of the next round of redistricting in 2021. | The plaintiffs, North Carolina residents, were sponsored by the National Redistricting Foundation, an arm of a Democratic group led by former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. that is seeking to challenge Republican control of the next round of redistricting in 2021. |
| The House map drawn by Republican legislators in 2016 all but guaranteed the party’s control of 10 of the state’s 13 House districts, even though voters’ political preferences are split almost evenly between the two major parties. A separate challenge to the same map went to the United States Supreme Court, which ruled | |
| in June that it did not have the ability to regulate partisan gerrymandering, however egregious. | |
| But the state panel said the map violated broader provisions in North Carolina’s state constitution guaranteeing freedom of speech and assembly and equal protection under the law, as well as a guarantee of free elections that does not appear in the federal Constitution. | But the state panel said the map violated broader provisions in North Carolina’s state constitution guaranteeing freedom of speech and assembly and equal protection under the law, as well as a guarantee of free elections that does not appear in the federal Constitution. |
| “North Carolina Republicans tried to beat democracy with their gerrymandered maps, and the U.S. Supreme Court would have let them get away with it,” Stanton Jones, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said on Monday. “The state court’s decision today ensures that North Carolinians will finally get to vote in free and fair congressional elections.” | “North Carolina Republicans tried to beat democracy with their gerrymandered maps, and the U.S. Supreme Court would have let them get away with it,” Stanton Jones, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said on Monday. “The state court’s decision today ensures that North Carolinians will finally get to vote in free and fair congressional elections.” |
| Mr. Holder called the ruling a belated victory for the state’s voters. “For nearly a decade, Republicans have forced the people of North Carolina to vote in districts that were manipulated for their own partisan advantage,” he said. “Now — finally — the era of Republican gerrymandering in the state is coming to an end.” | |
| Republicans in the legislature were considering their options and had no immediate response to the rulings, a spokesman for State Senate President Phil Berger said Monday evening. | |
| The order further upends a North Carolina political landscape that was, until this autumn, carefully crafted to maintain Republican dominance in all but the most unlikely Democratic landslides. The same three-judge panel struck down most of the state legislature’s maps in September as Republican partisan gerrymanders, citing the same violations of state constitutional clauses. Republicans elected then to redraw the maps, which were approved by the same court on Monday in a separate order. | The order further upends a North Carolina political landscape that was, until this autumn, carefully crafted to maintain Republican dominance in all but the most unlikely Democratic landslides. The same three-judge panel struck down most of the state legislature’s maps in September as Republican partisan gerrymanders, citing the same violations of state constitutional clauses. Republicans elected then to redraw the maps, which were approved by the same court on Monday in a separate order. |
| Republican legislators did not immediately respond to the latest order. They could oppose a motion for summary judgment and, should it come, appeal it to the state Supreme Court. But the three-judge panel suggested on Monday that the Republican legislative leaders forego legal arguments and use the same bipartisan map-drawing process employed to draft the new state legislative districts. | Republican legislators did not immediately respond to the latest order. They could oppose a motion for summary judgment and, should it come, appeal it to the state Supreme Court. But the three-judge panel suggested on Monday that the Republican legislative leaders forego legal arguments and use the same bipartisan map-drawing process employed to draft the new state legislative districts. |