New York Times: Deceased Strategist’s Files Detail Republican Gerrymandering in North Carolina, Advocates Say

When the hard drives of a deceased Republican strategist revealed new evidence last week about the Trump administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, many people wondered whether the files hid other revelations.

On Thursday, in a county court in Raleigh, N.C., they got an answer: there is potentially much more.

The late strategist, Thomas Hofeller, was the mastermind behind the G.O.P.’s gerrymandering strategy, and left behind four hard drives and 18 thumb drives containing more than 75,000 files that were found by his estranged daughter after his death in August.

The advocacy group Common Cause said in court documents submitted in Raleigh on Thursday that the Hofeller files include new evidence showing how North Carolina Republicans misled a federal court to prolong the life of their map of state legislative districts, which had been ruled unconstitutional.

The Republicans told the federal court hearing the map case that they would not be able to draw new legislative districts and hold public hearings on them in time for a proposed special election in late 2017 or early 2018. In fact, Common Cause said, Mr. Hofeller’s files show that almost all the work was already done: proposed new boundaries had been drawn for more than 97 percent of the state’s proposed Senate districts and 90 percent of House districts.