The North Carolina Supreme Court has overruled an earlier decision that declared partisan gerrymandering illegal.
The 5-2 ruling could eliminate as many as four Democrat-held congressional seats, thanks to North Carolina Republicans' veto-proof majority in the General Assembly.
The court's prior decision came down when it leaned left.
The ruling is a victory for the GOP state legislature, which brought the case back to the state Supreme Court after Republicans flipped seats on the court in the midterms, giving them the majority. The GOP legislature had also taken the case to the US Supreme Court – where Republicans were pushing an aggressive theory that would limit the role state courts can play in election disputes – and it is unclear whether Friday's ruling prompts the US Supreme Court to dismiss the case that is before it.
“Our constitution expressly assigns the redistricting authority to the General Assembly subject to explicit limitations in the text,” the new opinion from the North Carolina court said. “Those limitations do not address partisan gerrymandering. It is not within the authority of this Court to amend the constitution to create such limitations on a responsibility that is textually assigned to another branch. Furthermore, were this Court to create such a limitation, there is no judicially discoverable or manageable standard for adjudicating such claims.”
The 5-2 opinion was written by Chief Judge Paul Newby, who was joined by the four other Republican members of the court. Democratic Justice Anita Earls wrote a dissent joined by Justice Michael Morgan, a fellow Democrat.
The ruling is a major loss for the voting rights groups that had challenged the congressional plan that had been drawn by the Republican legislature after the 2020 census, as the ruling will prevent them from going to state court in the future bring claims of extreme partisan gerrymandering against North Carolina maps.
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I think Gerrymandering SUCKS in general although I think the Democrats would consider anything Gerrymandering unless they do it.
Veto proof majority in State Legislature is not relevant to this story. VETO DOES NOT APPLY TO REDISTRICTING.
Politicians regardless of party often accuse the the other party of gerrymandering when drawing districts believing this will help the other party win more seats than they would if the districts were drawn the way the accusers wants them drawn. Democrats in Nebraska balked at the drawing of Congressional districts following the 2020 census believing this was done to assure the Republicans will win all of the state’s Congressional district elections. I the 2nd Congressional District Don Bacon has won by winning the non-Omaha part of the district while the Democrat won in Omaha. This district include Douglas County and parts of Sarpy County and Saunders County. Omaha makes us most of Douglas County and Democrats make up a greater percentage of the population in Omaha than they do in western Sarpy County and Saunders County. I live in Omaha and was happy that Congressman Bacon won. In the last 3 elections the Democrat’s candidate was so for left-wing that Bacon should have won hands down in Omaha. The 2018 & 2020 Democratic candidate was Kara Eastman and their 2022 candidate was Tony Vargas. Vargas defeated Eastman in the 2022 Primary Election for the nomination.