A new 5-2 majority in North Carolina Supreme Court voted to overturn a previous ruling making partisan gerrymandering illegal.
According to the Princeton Gerrymandering Project, North Carolina's statehouse districts all received 'A' grades for fairness under the lines in place as of 2022, while its congressional maps received a 'B' rating for being fair, but overly advantageous to incumbents.
"The Republican State Supreme Court has ignored the constitution and followed the marching orders of the Republican state legislature by declaring open season for their extreme partisan gerrymandering and has destroyed the court's reputation for independence," Cooper said in a statement."Republican legislators wanted a partisan court that would issue partisan opinions and that's exactly what this is.
There was a bright spot for liberals, however. Some have speculated the North Carolina State Supreme Court's ruling could result in the U.S. Supreme Court abandoning its own evaluation of North Carolina's Congressional maps in a case that could strip state courts' ability to review election laws passed by state lawmakers—thereby maintaining courts' ability to provide checks and balances to election changes passed by partisan legislatures.
While the ruling was"bad news for voters of North Carolina," liberal election lawyer Marc Elias wrote after the ruling, it would"very likely prevent the possible limiting of state court review of voter suppression laws elsewhere."
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