Court Panel Rules North Carolina Political Maps are Good to Go

January 12, 2022 by Dan McCue
Court Panel Rules North Carolina Political Maps are Good to Go
Hilary Harris Klein, senior counsel for voting rights for the Southern Coalition for Social Justice.

RALEIGH, N.C. — A three-judge state superior court panel ruled Tuesday that new congressional and state legislative maps drawn by Republican lawmakers do not violate the state constitution and therefore can be used in upcoming elections.

The panel, which included two Republicans, Wake County Judge Graham Shirley and Catawba County Judge Nathaniel Poovey, and one Democrat, Anson County Judge Dawn Layton, acknowledged that the new maps give Republicans an advantage in future elections.

But they went on to say that in redistricting, “political considerations” are simply part of the process and do not impinge on the right to vote. 

The 260-page ruling upheld both a new congressional map that appears destined to give Republicans a 10-4 advantage in regard to North Carolina’s 14 seats in the U.S. House and the maps for state legislature that critics have argued will produce strong Republican majorities even in years when Democrats win the majority of the vote.

Attorney Marc Elias, who is representing the plaintiffs in the case, said he will appeal the ruling to the North Carolina Supreme Court.

“The fight for fair districts continues,” he said in a tweet moments after the ruling was handed down.

Hilary Harris Klein, senior counsel for voting rights for the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, also believes the state Supreme Court will ultimately decide the case.

As attorney for some of the plaintiffs challenging the map, Klein said she was obviously disappointed in the ruling, but she added, “We remain confident that our conclusive  evidence of partisan bias, obfuscation, and attacks on Black representation, from expert testimony to the mapmakers’ own admissions, will convince the state’s highest court to protect voters from nefarious efforts to entrench partisan power at the expense of free elections and fair representation.”

Throughout the ruling, the judges expressed a certain amount of discomfort with having to deal with the issue at all.

“Despite our disdain for having to deal with issues that potentially lead to results incompatible with democratic principles and subject our state to ridicule, this court must remind itself that these maps are the result of a democratic process,” they wrote in one telling passage. 

“Judges, just like many of the citizens they serve, do not always like the results they reach,” they added. 

Despite their ambivalence, North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore said, “I am pleased the trial court has ruled in our favor, upholding the maps drawn by the General Assembly in the most transparent process in North Carolina history.”

“Free and fair elections are the result of an open and honest process,” Moore said. “The General Assembly’s maps were drawn in the light of day, after months of public comment and feedback. Unfortunately Democrat plaintiffs refuse to hold themselves to this standard. Their own proposed maps were drawn in secret, implementing feedback not from voters themselves, but from political consultants paid for by Eric Holder.”

Of course, the North Carolina Supreme Court has already pushed the state’s primary elections back from March to May to  accommodate the legal battles over the state’s new maps.

If it does take up the case, it is likely to do so quickly.

In anticipation of that development Republicans are already calling on Democratic Justice Sam Ervin to recuse himself from the case because he is running for reelection this year.

But from there, the situation gets even murkier. One Republican justice, Phil Berger Jr., is the son of the N.C. Senate Leader Phil Berger, who is a defendant in the case. Meanwhile, one of the Democrats on the court, Justice Anita Earls, is actually a founder of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, the organization that employs Hilary Harris Klein and is one of the main law firms for the plaintiffs in the case.

Perhaps the biggest outcome from Tuesday ruling, so far, is this: Candidate filing will resume on Feb. 24.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue.

A+
a-
  • Dawn Layton
  • Graham Shirley
  • Hilary Harris Klein
  • Marc Elias
  • Nathaniel Poovey
  • North Carolina
  • redistricting
  • In The News

    Health

    Voting

    Redistricting

    December 26, 2023
    by Dan McCue
    Wisconsin Supreme Court Strikes Down State Legislative Maps

    MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday struck down Republican-drawn legislative maps and ordered new district boundary lines... Read More

    MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday struck down Republican-drawn legislative maps and ordered new district boundary lines in the perennial battleground state to be drawn before the 2024 election. In its 4-3 ruling, the court majority held that scores of legislative districts woven... Read More

    December 12, 2023
    by Dan McCue
    Court Sets Off ‘MapQuake’ in New York, Orders Redistricting Do-Over

    ALBANY, N.Y. — New York’s highest court ordered the state to redraw its congressional map on Tuesday, ruling in favor... Read More

    ALBANY, N.Y. — New York’s highest court ordered the state to redraw its congressional map on Tuesday, ruling in favor of the plaintiffs in a Democratic lawsuit, and potentially increasing the odds that Democrats will take back control of the House after the 2024 election. The... Read More

    December 8, 2023
    by Dan McCue
    Georgia Legislators Approve New Congressional District Map

    ATLANTA — The Georgia Legislature on Thursday gave its approval to a new congressional district map that adds a Black... Read More

    ATLANTA — The Georgia Legislature on Thursday gave its approval to a new congressional district map that adds a Black majority district west of Atlanta but appears to dilute the district currently represented by Democratic Rep. Lucy McBath. The adoption of the map came just a... Read More

    Wisconsin Supreme Court Questions Timing of Redistricting Challenge Seeking New Maps for 2024

    MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Conservative justices on the Wisconsin Supreme Court questioned why it was being asked Tuesday to overturn... Read More

    MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Conservative justices on the Wisconsin Supreme Court questioned why it was being asked Tuesday to overturn Republican-drawn legislative maps in a redistricting case that Democrats hope will result in new, more favorable legislative maps for elections in 2024. The lawsuit was brought by Democratic... Read More

    Judge Finds Voting Rights Act Violation in North Dakota Redistricting for Two Tribes

    BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota's 2021 legislative redistricting plan violates the rights of two Native American tribes because it... Read More

    BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota's 2021 legislative redistricting plan violates the rights of two Native American tribes because it dilutes their voting strength, a federal judge ruled Friday. U.S. District Chief Judge Peter Welte said the redrawn legislative districts violated the Voting Rights Act of... Read More

    November 13, 2023
    by Dan McCue
    Louisiana Lawmakers Told to Come Up With New District Map

    NEW ORLEANS — A federal appeals court on Friday held that the latest iteration of Louisiana’s congressional district map continues... Read More

    NEW ORLEANS — A federal appeals court on Friday held that the latest iteration of Louisiana’s congressional district map continues to likely violate the Voting Rights Act by diluting the power of Black voters. The decision handed down by a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S.... Read More

    News From The Well
    scroll top