Case Summary
The Southern Coalition for Social Justice challenged numerous districts in North Carolina's 2011 legislative and congressional maps as unconstitutional racial gerrymanders on behalf of the North Carolina NAACP. An initial trial court holding in favor of Defendants was vacated and remanded on appeal by the U.S. Supreme Court in light of Alabama Legislative Black Caucus v. Alabama, 135 S. Ct. 1257.
On remand, the trial court issued a February 12, 2018 order concluding that Plaintiffs were entitled to a declaratory judgment in their favor for several districts that violated the U.S. and North Carolina State Constitutions. The trial court also dismissed the matter as moot because the voting plans were already struck down as racial gerrymanders under parallel federal litigations, Cooper v. Harris and North Carolina v. Covington.
Why it's Important
The trial court ultimately decided that North Carolina's General Assembly violated the U.S. and North Carolina State Constitutions in its post-2010 census redistricting by enacting voting maps that packed Black voters and thereby diluted Black voting power throughout the state.
