Together, we’re standing up against discriminatory gerrymandering in North Carolina

NC NAACP v. Berger comes on the heels of the North Carolina legislature redrawing the state’s voting maps in October 2023 to severely diminish the voting power of Black voters in the state.

Our federal lawsuit calls for new congressional and state legislative districts that respect the constitutional rights of Black voters in North Carolina. Southern Coalition for Social Justice and Hogan Lovells are representing the plaintiffs in the case, including Common Cause.

The complaint, filed December 2023, alleges various harms in North Carolina’s legislative and congressional maps:

• Unconstitutional intentional discrimination against Black voters in state legislative and congressional maps;
• Vote dilution in violation of the Voting Rights Act in North Carolina’s Black Belt in legislative maps;
• Intentional vote dilution of Black electoral power in Congressional Districts 1, 5, 6, and 10;
• Racial gerrymandering in Senate Districts 7 and 8; and
• Violation of one-person, one-vote in legislative maps.

In March 2024, a three-judge panel consolidated NC NAACP v. Berger with the congressional map challenge Williams v. Hall.

The trial in this case began the week of June 16, 2025 and concluded on July 9, 2025 at the federal court in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. A ruling has not yet been issued in this case.

Learn more about this case

Learn more about redistricting in North Carolina

UPDATE: On Oct. 27, 2025, Common Cause and the other plaintiffs in this case filed a supplemental complaint challenging the North Carolina General Assembly’s 2025 congressional map as an unconstitutional, retaliatory redraw designed to punish Black voters in the state’s historic Black Belt for how they voted in 2024.

See the supplemental complaint

Read more about this supplemental complaint

Samples of recent media coverage of this case:

• Greensboro News & Record: Da’Quan Love and Ann Webb: Voting districts don’t belong to politicians — they belong to the people
• WXII: North Carolina redistricting trial takes a turn with testimonies from state senators
• WXII: North Carolina district maps trial continues in Winston-Salem
• WXII: Extensive cross-examination in Day 2 of North Carolina federal redistricting lawsuit
• NC Newsline: Witnesses testify about Black communities split by NC Republicans’ redistricting plans
• WXII: Historic federal redistricting trial begins in Winston-Salem, alleging violation of voting rights
• WFDD: Federal trial starts in Winston-Salem over North Carolina’s political maps
• NC Newsline: Common Cause of NC policy director Ann Webb on the latest gerrymandering trial
• The Associated Press: North Carolina redistricting trial begins, with racial gerrymandering allegations the focus