{"id":170,"date":"2018-08-27T22:23:37","date_gmt":"2018-08-27T22:23:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/north-carolina\/press-releases\/federal-district-court-affirms-landmark-ruling-against-partisan-gerrymandering-in-north-carolina\/"},"modified":"2018-08-27T22:23:37","modified_gmt":"2018-08-27T22:23:37","slug":"federal-district-court-affirms-landmark-ruling-against-partisan-gerrymandering-in-north-carolina","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/north-carolina\/press\/federal-district-court-affirms-landmark-ruling-against-partisan-gerrymandering-in-north-carolina\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal District Court Affirms Landmark Ruling Against Partisan Gerrymandering in North Carolina"},"template":"","class_list":["post-170","press","type-press","status-publish","hentry","press_type-press-release"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"RALEIGH, NC \u2013 A three-judge federal district court panel in Greensboro again ruled in Common Cause v. Rucho that the NC General Assembly violated the U.S. Constitution in 2016 when legislators manipulated congressional districts for partisan advantage. \r\n\r\nAppeals of three-judge panel redistricting decisions go directly to the U.S. Supreme Court, so the case could be heard there in the next year.\r\n\r\n","featured_image":"","press_type":146,"authors":["{\"site_id\":\"1\",\"post_type\":\"person\",\"post_id\":7872}","{\"site_id\":\"1\",\"post_type\":\"person\",\"post_id\":8440}"],"related_issues":[62,417],"related_work":false,"location":36},"sidebar":{"helper_enable_sidebar":false,"helper_media_contact":{"heading":"Media Contact","manually_enter_person":false,"person":null,"name":"","role":"","phone":"","email":""},"helper_links_downloads":{"heading":"Links & Downloads","links":null}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"RALEIGH, NC \u2013 A three-judge federal district court panel in Greensboro again ruled in Common Cause v. Rucho that the NC General Assembly violated the U.S. Constitution in 2016, when legislators manipulated congressional districts for partisan advantage.\r\n\r\nThe panel reached the same conclusion in January, but the U.S. Supreme Court vacated and remanded the decision in June 2018, following its decision in Gill v. Whitford. The justices asked the trial court panel to reexamine whether plaintiffs had standing to sue. The panel confirmed standing and the original finding of constitutional violations in today\u2019s decision.\r\n\r\nAccording to the court\u2019s decision, \u201cwe further conclude that Gill did not call into question -- and, if anything, supported -- this Court\u2019s previous determination that Plaintiffs have standing to assert partisan gerrymandering claims.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cWe\u2019re pleased that a North Carolina federal court has once again stated what we have long believed, that extreme partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional. This is a historic win for voters, and a significant step towards finally ending gerrymandering,\u201d said Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause NC.\r\n\r\n\u201cWhile we look forward to having our landmark case now go before the highest court in the land, it\u2019s regrettable that North Carolina voters this November will be voting in congressional districts that have been found unconstitutional. We the people deserve better. It\u2019s time for state lawmakers to do their part and pass redistricting reform.\u201d\r\n\r\nAppeals of three-judge panel redistricting decisions go directly to the U.S. Supreme Court, so the case could be heard there during the next year.\r\n\r\nBackground on Common Cause v. Rucho:\r\n\r\nIn 2016, a federal court ruled that the Republican-controlled NC legislature had unconstitutionally gerrymandered two of the state\u2019s 13 congressional districts along racial lines and ordered them to be redrawn.\r\n\r\nRepublican legislative leaders responded by claiming they would craft a new congressional map by ignoring race entirely, and instead draw a blatant partisan gerrymander, as Rep. David Lewis (R-Harnett) stated publicly during a redistricting committee meeting in February of 2016.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe want to make clear that we \u2026 are going to use political data in drawing this map,\u201d Lewis said at that time. \u201cIt is to gain partisan advantage on the map. I want that criteria to be clearly stated and understood.\u201d\r\n\r\nThat blatant gerrymander by the legislature prompted Common Cause to file suit in August 2016 arguing that partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional, an argument that the federal court agreed with in its ruling in January of this year and affirmed today.\r\n\r\nIn addition to fighting gerrymandering in the courts, Common Cause has been a longtime advocate for legislation that would establish nonpartisan redistricting in North Carolina.\r\n\r\nOver 300 civic leaders from 140 towns and cities across North Carolina have signed a petition calling on the legislature to pass independent redistricting reform. And more than 100 North Carolina business owners have launched a coalition calling for an end to gerrymandering.\r\n\r\nCommon Cause NC is a nonpartisan grassroots organization dedicated to encouraging citizen participation in democracy."}}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Federal District Court Affirms Landmark Ruling Against Partisan Gerrymandering in North Carolina - Common Cause North Carolina<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/north-carolina\/press-releases\/federal-district-court-affirms-landmark-ruling-against-partisan-gerrymandering-in-north-carolina\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Federal District Court Affirms Landmark Ruling Against Partisan Gerrymandering in North Carolina\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/north-carolina\/press\/federal-district-court-affirms-landmark-ruling-against-partisan-gerrymandering-in-north-carolina\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Common Cause North Carolina\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/north-carolina\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/common-cause-share-image.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/north-carolina\/press-releases\/federal-district-court-affirms-landmark-ruling-against-partisan-gerrymandering-in-north-carolina\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/north-carolina\/press-releases\/federal-district-court-affirms-landmark-ruling-against-partisan-gerrymandering-in-north-carolina\/\",\"name\":\"Federal District Court Affirms Landmark Ruling Against Partisan Gerrymandering in North Carolina - 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