{"id":254,"date":"2023-01-20T15:47:41","date_gmt":"2023-01-20T20:47:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/north-carolina\/press-releases\/republican-legislators-petition-nc-supreme-court-to-toss-precedent-rehear-voting-rights-cases-involving-discrimination-against-black-voters\/"},"modified":"2023-01-20T15:47:41","modified_gmt":"2023-01-20T20:47:41","slug":"republican-legislators-petition-nc-supreme-court-to-toss-precedent-rehear-voting-rights-cases-involving-discrimination-against-black-voters","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/north-carolina\/press\/republican-legislators-petition-nc-supreme-court-to-toss-precedent-rehear-voting-rights-cases-involving-discrimination-against-black-voters\/","title":{"rendered":"Republican Legislators Petition NC Supreme Court to Toss Precedent, Rehear Voting Rights Cases Involving Discrimination Against Black Voters"},"template":"","class_list":["post-254","press","type-press","status-publish","hentry","press_type-press-release"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"","featured_image":"","press_type":146,"authors":null,"related_issues":[62,109,417],"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":"<em><strong>Media Contacts:<\/strong><\/em>\r\n<em>Bryan Warner, Common Cause | bwarner@commoncause.org | 919-836-0027<\/em>\r\n<em>Melissa Boughton, SCSJ | melissa@scsj.org | 830-481-6901<\/em>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">RALEIGH, N.C. \u2014 North Carolina Republican lawmakers are wasting no time trying to use the recently-flipped state Supreme Court to their advantage \u2014 they filed petitions Friday asking the Republican-controlled court to ignore recent precedent and rehear two cases decided just last month, one involving statewide redistricting and the other involving a discriminatory voter ID bill. <\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">In their requests to overturn <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Harper v. Hall<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0\u2014 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/north-carolina\/press-release\/north-carolina-supreme-court-rejects-gamesmanship-in-latest-redistricting-opinion\/\" data-loopstyle=\"link\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">a case brought by Common Cause North Carolina<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0after lawmakers gerrymandered legislative and Congressional maps to give Republicans an edge at the disproportional expense of Black voters \u2014 legislators ask for the ability to return to redistricting \u201cunencumbered\u201d by previous decisions that set constitutional limits on partisan gerrymandering. That petition also asks the court to overturn a February 2022 decision from the case, despite no petition having been filed relating to it for the better part of a year now.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cSelf-serving politicians are desperately trying to undermine the state Supreme Court\u2019s landmark ruling against discriminatory gerrymandering. Partisan legislators want to claw power away from the people of North Carolina and go back to illegally manipulating our voting districts,\u201d said <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause North Carolina<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">. \u201cEnough. Politicians in the legislature should stop wasting taxpayers\u2019 money in pursuit of unconstitutional power grabs. It\u2019s time for lawmakers to follow the law.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">As they have argued unsuccessfully throughout this case, the lawmakers\u2019 petition in <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Harper<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0again asserts that partisan gerrymandering claims are non-justiciable altogether because they contend the state constitution gives legislators \u201cthe power to decide what political composition is appropriate for electoral districts.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">Not-so-distant North Carolina history has shown that Republicans in charge of redistricting want free reign to give their party an extreme advantage to remain in control \u2014 and they have no issue drawing maps that are impervious to will of voters. Voters from both sides of the aisle overwhelmingly expressed to the legislature as late as the fall of 2021 that they didn\u2019t want partisan gerrymandering by either political party.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cA rehearing in this case is completely unnecessary given the record in this matter developed over the course of a year and hundreds of pages of North Carolina Supreme Court decisions,\u201d said <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Hilary Harris Klein, Senior Counsel for Voting Rights at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">, which represents plaintiff Common Cause NC in the <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"none\">Harper <\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"none\">cases<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">. \u201cIn their 46-page document, defendants failed to identify any points of fact or law the North Carolina Supreme Court failed to consider. Instead, they merely disagree with the result, and that is not adequate grounds for a rehearing.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">Common Cause NC opposes a <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Harper <\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">rehearing, but applicable court rules do not automatically provide a right to be heard in response to such a filing.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">In its second petition, Republican lawmakers ask the state Supreme Court to rehear <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Holmes v. Moore<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0after <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/southerncoalition.org\/north-carolina-supreme-court-strikes-down-voter-photo-id-law-as-unconstitutional-discriminatory\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-loopstyle=\"link\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">a decision last month<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0struck down their most recent iteration of a photo voter ID law as an unconstitutional measure passed in part to discriminate against African American voters.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">The case was originally filed by Southern Coalition for Social Justice joined by co-counsel from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton &amp; Garrison LLP in December 2018. It alleged North Carolina\u2019s 2018 voter ID law (S.B. 824), approved by a Republican-led supermajority in a lame-duck session, was racially motivated.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cThis petition is another example of legislative leadership stopping at nothing to infringe on the right of African Americans to vote freely in North Carolina,\u201d said <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Jeff Loperfido, Interim Chief Counsel of Voting Rights at Southern Coalition for Social Justice<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">. \u201cWe\u2019re disappointed that lawmakers would choose to waste time rehashing arguments that were rejected by the Court mere weeks ago rather than doing the work of passing a voter photo ID that passes constitutional muster.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">Plaintiff Jabari Holmes, an African American voter with disabilities, and the legal team in the case oppose a rehearing, but like the other petition, court rules don\u2019t give an automatic right to respond.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n<i><span data-contrast=\"none\">Common Cause North Carolina<\/span><\/i><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0is a nonpartisan grassroots organization dedicated to upholding the core values of American democracy. We work to create open, honest and accountable government that serves the public interest; promote equal rights, opportunity and representation for all; and empower all people to make their voices heard in the political process.<\/span><\/i><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The Southern Coalition for Social Justice, founded in 2007, partners with communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities in the South to defend and advance their political, social, and economic rights through the combination of legal advocacy, research, organizing, and communications. Learn more at <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/southerncoalition.org\" data-loopstyle=\"link\"><i><span data-contrast=\"none\">southerncoalition.org.<\/span><\/i><\/a>"}}]},"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>Republican Legislators Petition NC Supreme Court to Toss Precedent, Rehear Voting Rights Cases Involving Discrimination Against Black Voters - 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\/republican-legislators-petition-nc-supreme-court-to-toss-precedent-rehear-voting-rights-cases-involving-discrimination-against-black-voters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Republican Legislators Petition NC Supreme Court to Toss Precedent, Rehear Voting Rights Cases Involving Discrimination Against Black Voters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/north-carolina\/press\/republican-legislators-petition-nc-supreme-court-to-toss-precedent-rehear-voting-rights-cases-involving-discrimination-against-black-voters\/\" \/>\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\/republican-legislators-petition-nc-supreme-court-to-toss-precedent-rehear-voting-rights-cases-involving-discrimination-against-black-voters\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/north-carolina\/press-releases\/republican-legislators-petition-nc-supreme-court-to-toss-precedent-rehear-voting-rights-cases-involving-discrimination-against-black-voters\/\",\"name\":\"Republican Legislators Petition NC Supreme Court to Toss Precedent, Rehear Voting Rights Cases Involving Discrimination Against Black Voters - 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