WASHINGTON – Court of North Carolina rejected the map drawn by the Republicans from the state’s 14 congressional districts on Wednesday and replaced its own version, the second time in less than two weeks that a court in the state invalidated the Republican House card as unconstitutionally biased.
The new map, drawn by a non-partisan group of four redistricting experts, appears to split North Carolina’s congressional districts roughly evenly between Republicans and Democrats in a state where voters are evenly split along party lines. This gives each party six relatively safe seats in the House of Representatives and makes the remaining two wins for either side.
A Republican-drawn map that was rejected would have given the Republican Party six safe seats and four Democrats, leaving the remaining four as a toss-up.
Voting rights groups and Democrats have opposed the latest Republican card, saying it unduly favors the Republicans. A three-judge panel of the State Supreme Court in Raleigh agreed. On Wednesday, it ruled that the latest map did not meet the fairness standards set by the state Supreme Court on Feb. 4, when that court invalidated the original map drawn by the Republican-controlled state legislature.
In a resolution dated February 4 The State Supreme Court said that the Republican maps of congressional districts and seats in the State Legislature violate many provisions of the State Constitution that guarantee free speech, free elections, and equal protection. Any valid card, the judges said, must satisfy “some combination” of five statistical criteria for partisan fairness developed by political scientists in recent decades.
What you need to know about redistricting and fraud
On Wednesday, a Raleigh court approved a Republican-drawn State House map, which was supported by all parties in the redistricting lawsuit, and a new Republican State Senate map, which was opposed by the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
One plaintiff, the League of Conservation Voters of North Carolina, said it would appeal the State Senate card to the State Supreme Court. It was not immediately clear whether other plaintiffs or the Legislature would appeal any decision of the Raleigh Court.
Wednesday’s decision further cemented the growing role of state courts in redistricting since 2019, when the U.S. Supreme Court said guerrilla machinations are a political issue outside of its jurisdiction. In recent weeks, the Ohio Supreme Court has twice dismissed State Assembly cards drawn up by the Republican Redistricting Commission.
Also on Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court placed its mark on the map of that state’s Congress. party dispute resolution the boundaries of seats in the House of Representatives by selecting a map drawn by a political scientist at Stanford University.
Stanford’s 17-seat House card, proposed by Democratic supporters who filed a redistricting lawsuit last year, appears to give Republicans nine pretty safe seats and Democrats eight. campaign non-partisan legal center analysis. Each party currently holds nine seats in the House of Representatives, but Pennsylvania will lose one seat next year due to a reshuffle after the 2020 Census.
How redistricting works in the US
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What is redistribution? This border redrawing Congress and state legislatures. This happens every 10 years after the census to reflect changes in the population.
How it works? The census dictates how many congressional seats each state will get. Mappers then work to ensure that all counties in the state have approximately the same number of residents to ensure equal representation in the House of Representatives.
Who draws new cards? Every state has your own process. Eleven states leave mapping to an external commission. But in the majority — 39 states — state legislators are drawing new cards for Congress.
If state legislators can choose their districts, won’t they be biased? Yes. Partisan cartographers often move county lines—subtly or blatantly—to group voters in one place. a path that advances a political goal. This is called gerrymandering.
Is gerrymandering legal? Yes and no. In 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that federal courts no role in blocking guerrilla machinations. However, the court left intact the parts of the Voting Rights Act prohibiting racial or ethnic fraud.
On Tuesday, two Republican candidates for seats in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives asked a federal court to stop a state court from choosing a card, arguing that the federal constitution places that responsibility solely on the legislature. There have been speculations that Republicans in North Carolina might make a similar appeal.
In the past, federal courts have rejected such arguments. But in recent months, four conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court have hinted at support for a new argument called independent state legislature doctrinethat state legislatures have complete authority over electoral laws in the absence of action by Congress.
Any further delay in the approval of county maps in Pennsylvania or North Carolina could cause problems with the election scheduling, which has already been delayed as a result of litigation. Pennsylvania has extended the filing deadline for primary candidates until mid-May due to a dispute over congressional districts and Republicans in the state Legislature. sued last week to block the maps of the State House and Senate drawn up by the Legislative Redistribution Commission.
In North Carolina, filing for the primary is due to resume on Thursday, but further calls from either card could delay that.
There is a precedent, said Jerry Cohen, a longtime expert on the North Carolina legislature and politics, and a member of the Wake County Election Commission in Raleigh. “In 2016, we had separate congressional primaries later that year” over the map controversy, he said. So I think anything is possible.