On July 23, 2008 we filed a brief on behalf of the State NAACP, together with the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, in the Dean v. Leake case, urging the court to dismiss the petitioner’s appeal of the District Court’s denial of a preliminary injunction motion. In January, voters from the Republican Party of North Carolina asked a federal court to delay the elections for members of the North Carolina General Assembly because when the legislature redrew legislative district lines in 2003 they did not make corrections to the official census data based on mistakes that had been discovered, including a dorm in Chapel Hill that was counted twice in the official numbers. The Federal Court denied that request and the plaintiffs in the case have asked the Supreme Court to review the decision. Other claims in the case would force the legislature to abandon over half the districts that elect candidates of choice of black voters.
Dean v. Leake, No. 2-07-CV-51-FL, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of North Carolina
Summary: A lawsuit was filed in federal court on November 21, 2007 that seeks a preliminary injunction requiring the legislature to redraw all of North Carolina’s state house and senate districts before the 2008 elections. The case initially raises one-person, one-vote claims on behalf of 13 individual plaintiffs. However, the plaintiffs also claim that any district that is less than 50% black in voting age population but nonetheless elects a black candidate is a racial gerrymander and must be eliminated. In addition, several majority-minority districts are targeted for redrawing because they allegedly cross county lines without justification. House District 24, which is 54% black in voting age population, represented by Jean Farmer-Butterfield, is challenged at paragraph 89b of the complaint. The allegation is that the legislature should draw a district that is composed primarily of Edgecombe County residents, although some would have to be in a district with Wilson County.
SCSJ represents the North Carolina Conference of Branches of the NAACP. On January 4, 2008, the Court granted the NAACP’s motion to intervene in the case as a Defendant, seeking to defend the current redistricting plan and to oppose any effort to redraw district lines before the 2008 elections.
