Associated Press: NC Republicans ask US Supreme Court to block Congress map

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Republicans asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to block a congressional redistricting plan that state judges drew this week, initiating a last-ditch effort to derail a map that likely would give Democrats another seat on Capitol Hill in 2023.

GOP legislative leaders argue that the boundaries — which replaced a map that the legislature approved earlier this month — violate the U.S. Constitution. Candidate filing under the map began Thursday and continues through next week.

Since the Constitution allows state lawmakers to determine the manner of holding U.S. House elections, the panel of three state judges overstepped its authority in adopting boundaries that weren’t set by the state House and Senate, an attorney for the Republican leaders wrote. The state Supreme Court also allowed the adopted map to be used. …

Allison Riggs, a lawyer representing Common Cause in the litigation, said GOP legislators were now “outrageously” attempting to insert the U.S. Supreme Court into state laws less than three years after the justices ruled state courts could use their own laws to curb partisan gerrymandering.

“We are confident this specious attempt to undermine our judiciary will be rejected,” Riggs said in a news release. The U.S. Supreme Court told Common Cause and other litigants to respond to the stay request by Wednesday.