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The
4-3 decision, with justices registered as Democrats making up
the majority, could have an outsized impact on the 2022 midterm
elections in November, when control of the closely divided U.S.
Congress will be at stake.
Democrats and civil rights activists had asserted that the new
map ensures Republicans will win a majority of the state's 14
congressional districts, even in elections in which more
Democratic voters cast ballots.
Issuing a ruling Friday, the Supreme Court said the maps "are
unconstitutional beyond a reasonable doubt under the free
elections clause, the equal protection clause, the free speech
clause, and the freedom of assembly clause of the North Carolina
Constitution."
North Carolina's legislature can submit new congressional and
state legislative districting plans "that satisfy all provisions
of the North Carolina Constitution," the court said. The
deadline to submit such plans for review by a trial court is
Feb. 18, the court said.
Federal law requires states to draw new congressional lines
every 10 years to account for population shifts, after the U.S.
Census completes its once-a-decade count. In most states,
legislators control the process, leading to the practice of
gerrymandering, in which one party engineers political maps to
benefit itself.
The case was among numerous pending lawsuits challenging
congressional maps in at least half a dozen states, including
Texas, Ohio and Georgia, according to New York University's
Brennan Center for Justice, which is tracking redistricting
litigation.
Republicans need to flip only a handful of seats in the Nov. 8
elections to retake control of the U.S. House of
Representatives, where Democrats hold a 221-212 edge, including
vacancies.
(Reporting by Rami Ayyub; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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