The redistricting saga in North Carolina may not be over, even after new Congressional maps were adopted and a new primary date was set last week.

The North Carolina NAACP is not impressed with the newly configured Congressional districts churned out by the North Carolina General Assembly during the middle of last week.

North Carolina NAACP President Dr. William Barber said that the chaos surrounding the new Congressional primary set for June began with the district maps drawn in 2011.

“It is important for us to note that this entire problem started when extremists, under the leadership of [State Senate President] Phil Berger and [then-House Speaker and now U.S. Senator] Thom Tillis, passed the worst unconstitutional redistricting plans that we had seen in North Carolina since the 19th century,” Barber said at a news conference on Monday.

Barber referred to the 2011 map as “apartheid redistricting.”

“You should have never seen this level of stacking and packing and bleaching of black and minority voters for political advantage,” Barber said.

After a federal court ruled that two of North Carolina’s Congressional districts were unconstitutional and mandated lawmakers redraw the districts, state leaders asked the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay. That request was denied. Barber said that when the NAACP is praising a court led by John Roberts, that speaks to the extent of the issues with the previous maps.

“That the Roberts court that overturned the Voting Rights Act Section 4 – that court, that we have deep issues with – would in our case say to our state Supreme Court, ‘You didn’t ask the right questions about race,’” Barber said.

So now NAACP attorney Irv Joyner says that the group is asking the federal court to quickly hear arguments regarding the legality of the new Congressional renderings and issue a ruling before filing opens in mid-March for the newly-set Congressional primary date, June 7.

U.S. District Judge William Osteen served on the three-judge panel that struck down the 1st and 12th Congressional districts, and he has now ordered that Joyner and the plaintiffs file objections to the new maps and the primary schedule by Monday, February 29. The state would then have until the following Monday, March 7, to respond. And the plaintiffs would have a rebuttal window through March 9.

Joyner said at the Monday press conference that they would request the federal panel draw their own district map. Osteen instead directed the attorneys to file the objections, according to the Associated Press.

North Carolinians will vote in a March 15 primary for races including President, Governor, U.S. Senate and local elections.

If the new maps and Congressional primary date go unaltered, it would be held in early June.

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