Gerrymandering/Redistricting

“Unfortunately, the General Assembly’s decision to draw a biased and gerrymandered map in 2016 allowed them to run out the clock and force North Carolinians to vote in unconstitutional districts one more time,” Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause North Carolina said in a statement. “Although justice will be delayed one more election cycle, we will keep up the fight for fair representation here in North Carolina and across the country when this case heads to the U.S. Supreme Court.”

Common Cause, joined by the League of Women Voters of North Carolina, filed a brief in Common Cause v. Rucho today concluding that a new congressional map in North Carolina should be implemented after the 2018 elections. With 67 days to go before the 2018 general election and a primary already conducted, Common Cause argued that new districts would generate election administration challenges that would cause confusion and lower voter turnout. The trial court ruled on Monday that North Carolina’s congressional map is an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander and is determining the appropriate remedy. The North Carolina General Assembly is likely to appeal the court’s ruling striking down the map directly to the U.S. Supreme Court, which could hear the case in the next term.

“Although North Carolina’s loud and proud admission that legislators drew districts for partisan advantage is unusual, the practice is universal when politicians are in charge,” said Kathay Feng, Common Cause national redistricting director. “Until we prohibit partisan gerrymandering, a true representative democracy will remain out of reach, and the voices of all Americans will continue to be silent.”

Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause North Carolina, called the ruling "a historic win for voters, and a significant step towards finally ending gerrymandering.”

“Although North Carolina’s loud and proud admission that legislators drew districts for partisan advantage is unusual, the practice is universal when politicians are in charge,” Kathay Feng, the national redistricting director at Common Cause, which brought the suit on behalf of the North Carolina voters, said in a statement. “Until we prohibit partisan gerrymandering, a true representative democracy will remain out of reach and the voices of all Americans will continue to be silent.”

A three-judge federal district court panel in North Carolina again ruled in Common Cause v. Rucho that the North Carolina General Assembly violated the U.S. Constitution in 2016 when legislators manipulated congressional districts for partisan advantage. The panel reached the same conclusion in January, but the Supreme Court of the United States vacated and remanded the decision this June following its decision in Gill v. Whitford. The Justices asked the trial court panel to reexamine whether plaintiffs had standing to sue. The panel confirmed standing and the original finding of constitutional violations in today’s decision. The North Carolina General Assembly is likely to appeal the decision. Appeals of three-judge panel redistricting decisions go directly to the U.S. Supreme Court, so the case could be heard there in the next year.