Associated Press: NC groups, voters urge justices to avoid redistricting case

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina advocacy groups and voters who this year persuaded state courts to overturn the legislature’s congressional redistricting plan asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to avoid hearing arguments on whether such courts must be curtailed in reviewing U.S. House maps.

Attorneys representing the state also joined with outside lawyers to file four legal briefs with the justices urging them to reject a petition from Republican legislative leaders to take up the issue.

Through their own private lawyers, the GOP lawmakers already asked the court to formally rule on whether a provision in the U.S. Constitution delegating to state legislatures the manner of holding U.S. House elections means that state judges can’t void congressional district lines created by the General Assembly. …

“The U.S. Constitution does not grant impunity to a state legislature for violations of its state constitution simply because the legislation relates to congressional elections,” wrote lawyers representing Common Cause, another litigant. Lawyers representing the state come from a department led by Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein.