Federal judges order North Carolina to
redraw legislative districts
Send a link to a friend
[November 30, 2016]
By Colleen Jenkins
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (Reuters) - A U.S.
federal court on Tuesday set a March 15 deadline for North Carolina
state lawmakers to redraw legislative districts found to be racially
"gerrymandered," and ordered a new round of elections by next November
for the 28 seats at stake.
In August, the same special three-judge panel ruled that nine state
Senate districts and 19 state House districts, as carved out in a plan
adopted by the Republican-controlled legislature in 2011, were
unconstitutional.
The panel had told North Carolina's legislature to start revamping its
political maps immediately, but left the existing boundaries intact for
the Nov. 8 state elections, because of time constraints.
"While special elections have costs, those costs pale in comparison to
the injury caused by allowing citizens to continue to be represented by
legislators elected pursuant to a racial gerrymander," the panel wrote
in its seven-page order on Tuesday.
North Carolina has already appealed the August ruling to the U.S.
Supreme Court, which has yet to act. Republicans also vowed to appeal
Tuesday's ruling, handed down by two U.S. district judges and one
circuit judge.
The ruling is a "politically motivated" abuse of judicial authority,
said state Senator Bob Rucho and Representative David Lewis, the
Republican chairmen of the House and Senate redistricting committees.
If upheld, the court order "is a gross overreach that blatantly
disregards the constitutional guarantee for voters to duly elect their
legislators to biennial terms," they said.
Last year, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice challenged North
Carolina's latest political maps, saying legislative district lines were
drawn in 2011 so as to dilute the state's black vote and give
Republicans an advantage.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Nov/30/images/ads/current/napa_bch1-3108.png)
[to top of second column] |
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Nov/30/images/ads/current/Morieary_Harris_lda_christmas_2016.png)
The three-judge panel that heard the case agreed, and Tuesday's
order, essentially an extension of its August opinion, was hailed by
the North Carolina Democratic Party.
A separate three-judge U.S. court panel ruled in a similar case a
week ago that state assembly districts in Wisconsin, as redrawn by
its Republican-led legislature, were unconstitutionally
gerrymandered.
Tuesday's North Carolina ruling sets a deadline of March 15 for
newly elected legislators to approve a redistricting plan that
passes constitutional muster.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Nov/30/images/ads/current/mb_heating_quarter_FHI_2016.png)
It also requires the state to hold special primary and general
elections in the late summer and fall of 2017 to fill those 28 House
and Senate seats.
Moreover, state lawmakers elected to any of the disputed General
Assembly seats in 2016 will serve for just one year, instead of the
normal two, the court ruled, a limit set for those elected next fall
as well.
(Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles;
Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |