North Carolina redistricting trial begins, with racial gerrymandering
allegations the focus
[June 16, 2025]
By GARY D. ROBERTSON
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina congressional and legislative
districts drawn by Republicans that helped them retain majorities in
Raleigh and Washington are in court, as federal lawsuits accuse
mapmakers of illegally eroding Black voting power in the process.
A trial scheduled by a three-judge panel will start Monday in
Winston-Salem over allegations that GOP legislative leaders violated
federal law and the U.S. Constitution when they enacted new electoral
maps in the ninth-largest state in October 2023. Republican leaders
counter that lawfully partisan — and not racial — considerations helped
inform their decision-making.
The lines were used in the 2024 elections, after which Republicans kept
General Assembly majorities and flipped three U.S. House seats held by
Democratic incumbents who didn’t seek reelection because they decided
the recast district made winning impossible. Those seat flips, which
turned a 7-7 delegation into one with a 10-4 Republican advantage,
helped the GOP keep narrow control of the House, which has helped
advance President Donald Trump's agenda.
Favorable rulings for the plaintiffs could force Republicans to redraw
maps for the 2026 elections, making it harder to retain their partisan
advantage. Otherwise, the districts could be used through the 2030
elections.
Who is suing and what they allege
The trial involves two lawsuits filed in late 2023.
In one lawsuit, the North Carolina NAACP, Common Cause and several Black
residents originally sued over redrawn state House and Senate maps and
U.S. House districts. The other lawsuit filed by nearly 20 Black and
Latino voters focused on the new congressional districts, four of which
they argue are illegal racial gerrymanders.
Pretrial rulings this spring and amended litigation dismissed challenges
to the state House map and narrowed state Senate arguments to a handful
of districts.
Still, both lawsuits claim that lines are so skewed for GOP candidates
that many Black voters cannot elect their preferred candidates,
violating the Voting Rights Act. They allege the mapmakers submerged or
spread out Black voting blocs, which historically have favored
Democrats, into surrounding districts with white majorities — benefiting
Republicans.
They point to a region where the cities of Greensboro, High Point and
Winston-Salem are located. They said Republicans split the region’s
concentrated Black voting population within multiple U.S. House
districts. Then-Rep. Kathy Manning, a Greensboro Democrat, decided not
to run again because her district shifted to the right.
The plaintiffs also allege Republican mapmakers intentionally
discriminated against Black and Latino voters.
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The North Carolina Senate reviews copies of a map proposal for the
state's congressional districts starting in 2024 during a committee
hearing at the Legislative Office Building, Oct. 19, 2023, in
Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum, File)
Republicans: Redistricting considered politics, not race
In a pretrial brief, lawyers for Republican leaders say the
lawmakers used mapmaking rules that prohibited using data
identifying the race of voters, in keeping with rulings on previous
North Carolina redistricting maps in which judges chided them for
emphasizing race.
Instead, Republicans were able to lawfully use partisan data — like
statewide election results — in drawing the new maps, the lawyers
said. They cite a 2019 U.S. Supreme Court decision and an April 2023
state Supreme Court decision that neutered legal claims of illegal
partisan gerrymandering.
The plaintiffs counter that the “racial sorting” within the
challenged districts can’t be explained by politics alone.
Who is hearing the case, and when will there be a ruling?
The three judges were all nominated to the bench by Republican
presidents: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Allison Rushing
(Donald Trump) and District Judges Thomas Schroeder (George W. Bush)
and Richard Myers (Trump).
The panel has set aside several days for a trial that won't end
until July 9. Likely witnesses include individual plaintiffs, state
legislators, redistricting experts and historians. No immediate
decision is expected — the legal sides have until early August to
file additional briefs.
The court's ruling can be appealed. With candidate filing for the
2026 election starting Dec. 1, any required remapping would have to
be completed by late fall to avoid election disruptions.
Redistricting history
North Carolina has a long history of redistricting litigation in
federal courts.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in landmark cases in the 1980s, 1990s
and 2000s involving racial bias and the extent to which racial
considerations could be used in forming districts that favored the
election of Black candidates. The court's 2019 decision on partisan
gerrymandering stemmed from a North Carolina case.
The current maps were drawn after the state Supreme Court, with a
Republican seat majority, essentially struck down rulings the court
made in 2022 when it had a Democratic majority.
Two other lawsuits challenging the 2023 district boundaries are
pending.
Statewide races in North Carolina are close, and Democrats have held
the governor’s mansion for most of the past 30 years. But
Republicans have controlled the General Assembly — and thus
redistricting — since 2011. Redistricting maps can’t be blocked by a
governor’s veto.
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