The North Carolina Middle District Court ruled Tuesday that North Carolina lawmakers must redraw their legislative districts by March 15 and hold new legislative elections next fall.
The order followed another ruling from this summer, claiming that that 28 out of 170 U.S. House and Senate districts in North Carolina relied heavily upon race, distorting future congressional election results. In the past, Republicans and Democrats have relied on redistricting to gain an advantage in federal and state elections.
“North Carolinians deserve fair representation in the state legislature, and that is impossible to achieve with racially gerrymandered districts,” said Anita Earls, executive director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, which represented plaintiffs in the case. “A special election in the affected districts in 2017 is the best way to protect the rights of all North Carolinians.”
Despite demands from lawmakers to delay elections until 2018, the court demanded that they adhere to the March deadline. Until then, Republicans will hold a 74-seat super majority in the House and a 35-seat super majority in the Senate until NC votes are cast to choose a new legislature in fall 2017 legislative elections. This poll offers a small possibility for Democrats to break down the GOP’s stronghold in the legislature; nevertheless, the possibility remains slim as past federal court orders have yielded the same 10-3 Republican advantage under older maps.
“This politically-motivated decision, which would effectively undo the will of millions of North Carolinians just days after they cast their ballots, is a gross overreach that blatantly disregards the constitutional guarantee for voters to duly elect their legislators to biennial terms,” said Rep. David Lewis, R-Harnett and Sen. Bob Ruch, R-Mecklenburg in a joint statement. “We continue to believe the maps drawn by the General Assembly, pre-cleared by the Obama justice department and twice upheld by our state’s elected Supreme Court are constitutional, and we will move quickly to appeal.”
The court ruling is currently under appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and will be heard on Dec. 5.
