NC Policy Watch: “State Supreme Court justices were asked in oral arguments Wednesday to declare that redistricting plans the Republicans devised are so skewed that they violate voters’ constitutional rights, while lawyers for GOP lawmakers argued that redistricting should be left to the legislature.
Common Cause, the League of Conservation Voters, and a group of voters backed by the National Redistricting Foundation are challenging state Republican plans for new congressional and legislative districts as extreme partisan gerrymanders. The plans dilute Black voting power, plaintiffs argue, by reconfiguring districts where Black voters have been able to elect the candidates of their choice.
A trial court upheld the redistricting plans, leading to the challengers’ appeal.
In the lead-up Wednesday’s arguments, three of the justices, Republican Phil Berger Jr. and Democrats Anita Earls and Sam Ervin IV were asked to recuse themselves. None did, so the case will be decided by the full court, where Democrats hold a 4-3 majority.
The GOP redistricting plans “violate the fundamental rights of millions of North Carolinians,” said Stanton Jones, an attorney for the plaintiffs.
In a partisan gerrymander, leaders of the party in power sort the minority party’s voters into districts that minimize their influence, effectively predetermining the outcome of elections and entrenching the majority in power, he said.
“All three of the challenged maps here are extreme gerrymanders that violate the fundamental rights of millions of North Carolinians, and this court has the power and duty to say so,” Jones said.”