Based on this and other rulings, Republicans redrew the maps once again in late 2019, this time saying they weren’t looking at racial or partisan data, and they passed legal muster. The updated congressional map was the basis of the 2019 Supreme Court case.īut, barely two months later, a North Carolina state court found the GOP advantage in some of the redrawn state legislative maps still violated the state constitution. It ordered the map redrawn, and in a separate case another panel of judges found that dozens of state legislative districts were illegal racial gerrymanders as well. A federal court in 2016 found North Carolina Republicans improperly crammed Black voters into two congressional districts to dilute African American votes elsewhere.
The Republican-controlled legislature has complete control of redistricting its maps cannot be vetoed by its Democratic governor. North Carolina’s redistricting legal fight is part of why the new race-blind approach caught on. “Now that we’re not looking at race, the Democrat Party is telling us, ‘Oh, you should be looking at race.’” Paul Newton, who co-chairs that state’s redistricting committee. “It’s truly a conundrum and has been for the last decade for the GOP, because when we look at race, we were told we shouldn’t have, and those maps were struck down,” said North Carolina state Sen. The mapmakers must then create a district in which that minority comprises a plurality or majority of voters so they can elect their preferred candidates. But the Voting Rights Act requires them to consider race if the state has “racially polarized” voting, in which white people consistently vote against candidates backed by a minority racial or ethnic group. Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law. If mapmakers explicitly try to weaken voters’ power based on race, they may violate the U.S. But state courts still can void maps for being too partisan and race remains a legal tripwire in redistricting. Supreme Cour t ruled that federal courts cannot overturn unfair maps on the basis of partisanship. The drawing of legislative lines is often a raw partisan fight because whichever party controls the process can craft districts to maximize its voters’ clout - and scatter opposing voters so widely they cannot win majorities. “It depends on where you are,” Torchinsky said. Jason Torchinsky, general counsel to the National Republican Redistricting Trust, said ignoring racial data is proper in certain circumstances, as in the cases of North Carolina and Texas. They know where the Latino community lives.” Because they know the race data - they know where the Black community lives. “I suspect they’re trying to set up a defense for litigation. “This is the first redistricting round I’ve ever heard of this,” said Thomas Saenz, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which is suing Texas Republicans over maps that the GOP said it drew without looking at racial data. Plus, under certain scenarios, the Voting Rights Act requires the drawing of districts where the majority of voters are racial or ethnic minorities. But those maps still happen to strongly favor the GOP.ĭemocrats and civil rights groups are incredulous, noting that veteran lawmakers don’t need a spreadsheet to know where voters of various races and different parties live in their state. House districts and giving the GOP at least a 10-4 advantage in a state that Donald Trump narrowly won last year.Īs the once-a-decade redistricting process kicks into high gear, North Carolina is one of at least three states where Republicans say they are drawing maps without looking at racial and party data. Several publicly released congressional maps dilute Democratic votes by splitting the state’s biggest city, Charlotte - also its largest African American population center - into three or four U.S. Still, the maps Republicans are proposing would tilt heavily toward their party. So, as the GOP-controlled legislature embarks this year on its latest round of redistricting, it has pledged not to use race or partisan data to draw the political lines. A state court later struck down Republican-drawn maps as based on pure partisanship.
A decade ago, North Carolina Republicans redrew their legislative districts to help their party in a way that a federal court ruled illegally deprived Black voters of their right to political representation. Race-blind redistricting? Democrats incredulous at GOP maps – East Bay Timesīy Bryan Anderson and Nicholas Riccardi | Associated Press
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