Associated Press: North Carolina’s congressional map still unlawful with partisan bias, judges rule

RALEIGH, N.C. — Federal judges on Monday affirmed their earlier decision striking North Carolina’s congressional districts as unconstitutional because Republicans drew them with excessive partisanship.

Acting under an order of the U.S. Supreme Court to re-examine the case, the three-judge panel ruled again in favor of election advocacy groups and Democrats who had sued to challenge the boundaries drawn in 2016.

The Greensboro-based court also raised the possibility of directing the GOP-dominated legislature to redraw the maps by mid-September so they could be in effect for the fall elections, or getting an outside expert to do so.

The printing of ballots has been delayed while other fall election matters are in court. …

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.”