Supreme Court Rules Against North Carolina Republicans In Gerrymandering Case
Supreme Court Ruling Is A Major Win For Voting Rights Advocates.
In a ruling Monday, the Supreme Court said that North Carolina illegally packed black voters into two voting districts.
The Supreme Court’s 5-3 ruling affirms the decision of the lower court, which also found that state officials used race as the main factor in drawing district lines without a compelling reason when they created two majority black districts.
The North Carolina districts are the 1st District and the 12th District.
In its ruling Justice Elena Kagan wrote the opinion of the court saying, “Although States enjoy leeway to take race-based actions reasonably judged necessary under a proper interpretation of the Voting Rights Act, that latitude cannot rescue District 1.”
“We by no means ‘insist that a state legislature, when redistricting, determine precisely what percent minority population demands. But neither will we approve a racial gerrymander whose necessity is supported by no evidence and whose raison d’être is a legal mistake.”
The Supreme Court ruling represents a major victory for voting rights advocates who recently also prevailed in a lawsuit against the Republican legislature’s voter ID law. In that case, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case, leaving in place the ruling of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals judge who ruled against the 2013 voter suppression law.
Major Win For Voting Rights As Supreme Court Refuses To Hear North Carolina Case
