North Carolina Redistricting Upheld Again by State Justices

A former congressional candidate and son of North Carolina state Senate leader Phil Berger is seeking elected office again, this time for the Court of Appeals.

In April, the nation’s highest court sent the North Carolina redistricting case back to the N.C. Supreme Court with short instruction: Reconsider the case in light of the US court’s March ruling in an Alabama redistricting case.

Friday’s ruling still keeps in place the boundaries approved by the GOP-led legislature in 2011 and used in the 2012 and 2014 elections. Two other redistricting lawsuits are pending in federal courts.

The state supreme court ruling also found that three of the cases should have been heard separately, he noted. Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg, said in a news release. A lead plaintiff plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in again. Were state justices stalling to get in another election before the Supreme Court might throw out the lopsided maps?

A panel of three N.C. Superior Court judges ruled unanimously in July 2013 in favor of the North Carolina mapmakers, concluding that although race was considered in the design of the districts, it was done so to comply with the Voting Rights Act. Writing for the majority, Justice Paul Newby said North Carolina lawmakers didn’t increase percentages greater than necessary.

Attorneys for the state and legislators have argued race wasn’t the predominant factor in drawing the maps.

“They’re not able to have an impact and influence in other parts of the state”, she told the Charlotte Observer in 2014, arguing that her district had been drawn to deny black voters a voice in the rest of the state.

Like the December 2014 rulings, the justices split Friday along political lines in the opinions that covered 129 pages.