FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 4, 2017
Federal Court Denies State Legislature’s Request to Postpone Drawing Legislative Districts in 2017
DURHAM – In a unanimous ruling today, a federal court denied the General Assembly’s request to postpone the order requiring new legislative districts to be drawn and elections to be held in 2017. The same court that denied the stay issued the order in November 2016 that calls for new maps and elections. The Southern Coalition for Social Justice represented plaintiffs in the case that challenged the racially gerrymandered state legislative districts.
Anita Earls, Executive Director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, issued the following statement after the motion was denied:
“We are pleased that the court continues to recognize the harm that will be done to people of North Carolina by electing representatives in districts that are unconstitutional. It’s time for the legislature to recognize that the people of our state deserve to have fair representation and the opportunity to vote in districts that were not racially gerrymandered.”
A copy of the order can be found here: http://bit.ly/CovingtonStay
###