“Hearing ends in Arkansas gerrymander case, now we wait” AR Times:
“After a whirlwind week of late nights, snow delays and a marathon Saturday session, both sides finished arguments in a case over whether Arkansas’s new state House maps violate the 1965 Voting Rights Act by weakening Black Arkansans’ political power.
And while skeptics predict we’ll be stuck with a discriminatory map, it’s not a done deal.
“I have not made a decision yet,” United States District Court Judge Lee Rudofsky said as he was winding up the hearing shortly after 5 p.m. This was not a case where he came in with an idea of the direction he would go and drafted a decision in advance, he said. He pledged to issue his ruling sometime next week. “We’re committed to working 24-7 until we get it out.”
Time is of the essence here, because so much preparation for 2022 elections hinge on district lines. Candidates are supposed to begin filing for primary races in a couple of weeks, but they can’t do that if they don’t know which districts they’ll be in.”
“Moore: NC Republicans considering a US Supreme Court appeal in redistricting” NC Policy Watch:
“House Speaker Tim Moore said in a radio interview Tuesday that the legislature will work on new redistricting maps as the state Supreme Court required, and that Republicans are also considering an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a 4-3 order, the state Supreme Court struck down Republican legislators’ redistricting plans. A majority on the court ordered new congressional and legislative districts because plans Republicans approved last year violate the state constitution. All three Republican justices dissented.
The state Supreme Court order gave the legislature until February 18 to submit new plans to a panel of three Supreme Court judges for review. Other parties in the case can also submit proposed redistricting plans.
Experts for groups that challenged the legislature’s redistricting plans said the maps could rarely, if ever, be reproduced by computers, and were so skewed in Republicans’ favor that the GOP could keep sizable majorities that defied changing political climates.
Moore told talk radio show host Pete Kaliner said legislators would “work to try to do something we think the court would uphold,” and that Republicans are considering an appeal to the nation’s highest court.”