Judges say N.C. congressional districts unconstitutionally gerrymandered to help GOP; new districts

[Marcuse]

Source: Washington Post

A panel of three federal judges held Monday that North Carolina’s congressional districts were unconstitutionally gerrymandered to aid Republicans over Democrats, and said it may require new districts before the November elections, possibly affecting control of the House.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/08/27/judges-say-n-c-congressional-districts-unconstitutionally-gerrymandered-to-help-gop-new-districts-may-be-required-before-november/

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[Fred Sanders]

2. Cue the well worn greased pathway to SCOTUS whose majority will punt again on these crimes

against democracy.

Any child looking at the NC congressional districts would vomit over the monstrous Frankenmap Republicans manufactured.

[2naSalit]

3. K&R

[elleng]

4. 'A panel of three federal judges,' this is WaPo???

WHICH court? This is important news, take the time to inform us!

[Marcuse]

5. Updated Info

The Supreme Court on Monday sent back to a lower court a decision that Republicans in North Carolina had gerrymandered the state’s congressional districts to give their party an unfair advantage.[link:https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-sends-case-on-north-carolina-gerrymandering-back-to-lower-court/2018/06/25/03c1119e-787e-11e8-93cc-6d3beccdd7a3_story.html|

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. No, yours is the old news and OP updates your citation. Yours is June 25. . . . nt

[Marcuse]

9. You are right. Refer to #8. Apologies.

[elleng]

7. Quite different from OP, but this is a JUNE 25 article.

'The lower court will need to decide whether the plaintiffs had the proper legal standing to bring the case.

The Supreme Court recently considered the question of partisan gerrymandering in cases from Wisconsin and Maryland. The court has never found a map so infected by politics that it violated the constitutional rights of voters.

But the justices did not rule on the merits of the issue. The court said plaintiffs in Wisconsin did not have the proper legal standing and that the Maryland case was in too preliminary a stage.'

[Marcuse]

8. Another rewrite.

[link:https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/2018/08/27/fc04e066-aa46-11e8-b1da-ff7faa680710_story.html|

[elleng]

10. STILL no court named,

just 'A panel of three federal judges.'

WaPo had better get it's act together on this.

[Honeycombe8]

12. Here you go. nt

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article217419880.html

[elleng]

14. And

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211059785

[Honeycombe8]

11. Woo hoo! Good news! nt

[elleng]

13. HERE, **BREAKING NEWS** Court strikes down North Carolina congressional map as unconstitutional.

A federal court in North Carolina on Monday struck down the state’s Republican-drawn congressional map.

The court’s decision, first reported by HuffPost, mirrored that of a January decision, in which a three-judge panel in North Carolina also ruled the state's map was unconstitutional.

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina found that Republicans had redrawn its map to favor their party after their first maps were struck down by the court as racial gerrymanders.

The U.S. Supreme Court in June sent the issue of partisan gerrymandering back down to the lower court.

http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/403890-judge-strikes-down-north-carolina-district-maps-as-unconstitutional

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211059785

[lagomorph777]

15. So SCOTUS is done with it and the decision stands?

I sure hope so.

[elleng]

16. Will likely be reviewed 'on the merits,'

or NC will seek 'relief.' This is not the end, but an important chapter.

Timing is important, considering Nov. election.

[FBaggins]

18. Unfortunately, no.

They dodged the key question the first time around and sent it back for consideration on standing. Unless they choose to disagree on standing, they now have to grapple with the key question of how to determine an impermissibly political gerrymander.

[DeminPennswoods]

17. The court could order new maps before Nov

Apparently this is the third time the court has found NC's districts to be too partisanly gerry-mandered. They don't want to let yet another cycle go by using the current map.

It sounds crazy, but the PA state supreme court also gave a very short deadline for the state legislature and gov to come up with a new, fairer map before the June primaries. When the legislature produced yet another partisan gerrymandered map, the court drew up a new one in a matter of a couple days.

The Supreme Court is currently 4-4 so whatever the lower court decides is very likely to stick at least for this cycle.