Federal judges on Monday affirmed their earlier decision striking North Carolina’s congressional districts as unconstitutional because Republicans drew them with excessive partisanship.
Acting under an order of the U.S. Supreme Court to re-examine the case, the three-judge panel ruled again in favor of election advocacy groups and Democrats who had sued to challenge the boundaries drawn in 2016.
The Greensboro-based court also raised the possibility of directing the GOP-dominated legislature to redraw the maps by mid-September so they could be in effect for the fall elections, or getting an outside expert to do so. The printing of ballots has been delayed while other fall election matters are in court.
“In such circumstances, we decline to rule out the possibility that the state should be enjoined from conducting any further congressional elections using the 2016 plan,” U.S. Circuit Judge Jim Wynn wrote in the majority opinion. He asked lawyers in the case to weigh in by Friday about what should happen next.
Any decision demanding new maps for this cycle likely would risk confusion among voters and be appealed by the Republican legislative leaders being sued.
May primaries were held, and general election candidates are raising money and campaigning in the current districts while approaching a midterm election in which control of the House is at stake. Even the plaintiffs, in their news releases praising the ruling, said they anticipated the Supreme Court would hear appeals during its session starting in October, meaning any new maps probably wouldn’t be used until the 2020 cycle.
The groups and individuals that sued alleged GOP mapmakers manipulated the lines of the state’s 13 districts in 2016 using political data to ensure Republicans retained a 10-3 majority within the delegation.
The same judges in January deemed the map an illegal partisan gerrymander that violated constitutional protections of Democratic voters. But the Supreme Court, which had ruled against plaintiffs in a redistricting case in Wisconsin, asked them to take a second look in June.
The sides in the case then filed briefs and provided new evidence. In Monday’s order covering almost 300 pages, Wynn wrote that at least one plaintiff registered to vote in each of the 13 districts has legal standing to challenge their district — meeting a key element of the justices’ ruling in the Wisconsin case. In each case, the opinion reads, the voter offered evidence showing the district had been twisted so that the person’s vote carried less weight compared to another hypothetical district that hadn’t been packed or split for partisan results.
The U.S. Constitution “does not allow elected officials to enact laws that distort the marketplace of political ideas so as to intentionally favor certain political beliefs, parties, or candidates and disfavor others,” Wynn wrote.
Wynn, District Judge Earl Britt and District Judge William Osteen agreed again that the 2016 redistricting plan violated the U.S. Constitution’s equal-protection provision. They also ruled that it violated provisions requiring states to be in charge of congressional elections because it dictated electoral outcomes. Osteen, in a separate opinion, disagreed with decisions by Wynn and Britt that the map also violated the First Amendment rights of Democrats to freedom of speech and of association.
Attorneys for GOP mapmakers had argued the three-judge panel should dismiss the lawsuits because the plaintiffs’ evidence was statewide in nature, not district by district.
Republican Senate leader Phil Berger’s office focused Monday night on Wynn for “outrageous election meddling” that could affect which party wins the House majority this year. “The decision throws North Carolina into chaos causing maximum voter confusion, and suggests that a court can deny North Carolina citizens their right to vote in November,” said Pat Ryan, a Berger spokesman.
Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause North Carolina, called the ruling a historic win for voters, and a significant step towards finally ending gerrymandering.”
The map was redrawn in 2016 because other federal courts determined two districts originally drawn in 2011 were illegal because of excessive racial bias.
Wynn noted the decadelong challenges.
“We continue to lament that North Carolina voters now have been deprived of a constitutional congressional districting plan — and, therefore, constitutional representation in Congress — for six years and three election cycles,” he wrote.
Related Stories
‹
Rep. Allen Buansi Shares Details on Bill for Millionaire Tax to Fund Public SchoolsThe District 56 representative joined 97.9 The Hill to discuss the bill he's co-sponsoring to explore new ways for funding public schools.
On the Porch: Graig Meyer - NC Justice CenterThis Week:
Graig Meyer is the Executive Director of the NC Justice Center where he will continue to "prioritize decisions and policies that make our state safer, healthier, more fair, and more prosperous". Meyer brings more than a decade of leadership in the North Carolina General Assembly, where he served in the House of Representatives beginning in 2013 and most recently in the State Senate representing Orange, Person, and Caswell Counties. Throughout his legislative career, Meyer championed strong public education, access to health care, economic opportunity for working families, and policies that strengthen communities across the state. Before entering public office, Graig spent sixteen years working in North Carolina’s public schools. A trained social worker and longtime public-school advocate, Graig has focused his public service on helping families connect to the resources and opportunities they need to thrive.
On the Porch: Lisa Sorg - Data CentersThis Week:
Lisa Sorg is the North Carolina reporter for Inside Climate News. A journalist for 30 years, Sorg covers energy, climate environment and agriculture, as well as the social justice impacts of pollution and corporate malfeasance.
She has won dozens of awards for her news, public service and investigative reporting. In 2022, she received the Stokes Award from the National Press Foundation for her two-part story about the environmental damage from a former missile plant on a Black and Latinx neighborhood in Burlington. Sorg was previously an environmental investigative reporter at NC Newsline, a nonprofit media outlet based in Raleigh. She has also worked at alt-weeklies, dailies and magazines. Originally from rural Indiana, she lives in Durham, N.C.
On the Porch: Holly Lux-Sullivan - Walking You HomeThis Week:
Holly Lux-Sullivan of Heartwood Death Doula & Bereavement Care is a trusted end-of-life guide, grief counselor, and board-certified chaplain with 18 years of experience supporting people through illness. She is a respected death doula whose passion is caring for those at life’s margins, particularly during severe and terminal illness, and normalizing conversations about mortality. An ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, she serves people facing the end of life across central North Carolina. HeartwoodDeathDoula.com
'Worried For Our Future': Authors React to Removal Attempt of LGBTQ+ Books from CHCCS Elementary LibrariesNorth Carolina legislators are pushing to remove 63 LGBTQ-themed books from CHCCS elementary schools, saying they violate state law for being available in libraries.
On the Porch: Deana Joy - Child Abuse in NCThis Week:
Deana Joy has spent her career working in the nonprofit sector with victims of crime. She began by working with victims of sexual violence then, in 2006, she was promoted to Executive Director of a local Children’s Advocacy and Sexual Assault Center. In 2014, Deana began working as the CEO of Children’s Advocacy Centers of North Carolina, the state chapter for Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs). In 2017, Deana became a national accreditation site reviewer for National Children’s Alliance, the accrediting body of Children’s Advocacy Centers. Deana currently serves as the Chair of the Children’s Justice Act for the Governor's Crime Commission and is on the NC Human Trafficking Commission, the NCDHHS Safety Design Team, the central region Citizen Review Panel, and the statewide Mass Violence Committee.
Morinaga Celebrates Completed Mebane Expansion and 'Sweet Partnership' With North Carolina, Orange CountyThe Japanese candy company Morinaga held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday to celebrate the opening of its expansion Hi-Chew plant in Mebane.
North Carolina’s Electoral Future May Hinge on Rural Black Voters Who Feel Ignored by DemocratsRoughly 4 in 10 Black voters in North Carolina’s last presidential election said they live in small towns or rural communities.
North Carolina Supreme Court Throws Out Longtime Suit Over Education FundingOn Thursday, the North Carolina Supreme Court threw out longtime Leandro Case ruling and litigation over education funding in the state.
North Carolina’s Photo Voter ID Mandate Can Continue as a Judge Upholds the LawNorth Carolina’s photo voter identification law was upheld on Thursday, as a federal judge set aside arguments by civil rights groups.
›
