Trial Over Alleged Racial Gerrymandering Begins in North Carolina
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A three-judge panel began hearing arguments in federal court on Monday over whether Republican state lawmakers purposely drew congressional and legislative district lines to illegally erode Black voting ahead of the 2024 elections.
The trial stems from a pair of lawsuits accusing party leaders of violating both federal law and the U.S. Constitution when they enacted new electoral maps intended to help them retain Republican majorities both in the state and in Washington.
The maps were used in the 2024 election. After the election was held, Republicans had held onto their majority in the general assembly, and flipped three U.S. House seats previously held by Democratic incumbents who chose not to run because they believed the redistricting gave them no chance of winning.
“The general assembly targeted predominantly Black voting precincts with surgical precision throughout the state in drawing and enacting the 2023 plans … to achieve preferred district lines that diminish Black voters’ ability to elect candidates of their choice at all levels of government,” the complaint says.
The plaintiffs claim minority voters were harmed in the redrawn 6th District because they and other minority voters were scattered into separate, predominantly Republican districts.
Before the change, the 6th District was often represented by Democrats, with Rep. Kathy Manning being its most prominent representative. After the shift, Republican Addison McDowell won the seat.
The lawsuits also claim that Republican leaders moved minority voters out of the 14th District and into the adjoining 12th District, which resulted in the 14th District losing many of its minority voters.
In contrast, the 12th District gained significantly more minority voters.
The 14th District, which was previously represented by current attorney general and Democrat Jeff Jackson, elected Republican Timothy Moore in the 2024 election.
Republican leaders counter that lawfully partisan considerations helped inform their decision-making, not racial ones. Lawyers representing the Republican Party claim no substantial evidence to constitute gerrymandering.
“Legislative denials of racial motive may be discredited only based on compelling, contrary evidence. None is available,” the lawyers said.
This is not North Carolina’s first time in court for district lines. The state was under scrutiny in 2022, when the state Supreme Court rewrote the district maps, overturning a previous decision on partisan gerrymandering, which was called unconstitutional.
In 2019, a North Carolina case, Rucho v. Common Cause, made its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that partisan gerrymandering was beyond the reach of federal courts due to the “political questions” involved.
Set to preside over the case, which is set to last until July 9, are three judges appointed by Republican presidents: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Allison Rushing and District Judges Thomas Schroeder and Richard Myers.
Two of the judges, Rushing and Myers, were appointed by President Donald Trump; the third, Schroeder, by former President George W. Bush.
Two other lawsuits challenging the 2023 district lines are still pending.
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