Associated Press: Court: GOP mapmaker’s files allowed in gerrymandering trial

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A few dozen computer files recovered from the home of a deceased Republican redistricting consultant can be offered as evidence in next week’s partisan gerrymandering trial in North Carolina, state judges ruled on Friday.

The three-judge panel presiding over the trial that starts Monday sided with the election reform group Common Cause, the North Carolina Democratic Party and registered Democratic voters who are suing Republican lawmakers and challenging state House and Senate boundaries drawn in 2017.

The plaintiffs subpoenaed documents from the estranged daughter of longtime GOP mapmaker Tom Hofeller that turned out to be more than 75,000 files from 22 hard drives and thumb drives that she said she came across while looking for personal mementos. Tom Hofeller died last year.

Those who sued told the judges last week they want to offer 35 of those files that they say will show Hofeller used partisanship as a predominant motivation to help create the 2017 districts to maximize advantage for Republicans. …

On Friday, the Superior Court judges — Paul Ridgeway, Alma Hinton and Joseph Crosswhite — directed that the remainder of Hofeller’s subpoenaed, non-personal files stay confidential temporarily while his old consulting firm reviews them to locate proprietary information they want withheld.

“No party may disseminate any of the Hofeller files to third parties without further order of his court,” the judges wrote. …