Greensboro, N.C. — A panel of three federal court judges has ordered the North Carolina General Assembly to redraw legislative maps by September 1, 2017 in order to remedy the unconstitutional and racially gerrymandered districts found in the Covington v. North Carolina case. Legislative leaders had requested until November 15 to enact new maps, despite […]
Federal judges order NC to redraw racially gerrymandered legislative districts
DURHAM, N.C. — Voters and voting rights advocates won a major court victory today in North Carolina, where three federal judges unanimously found that 28 of the state’s legislative districts are racially gerrymandered and must be redrawn after the November 2016 election. The three-judge court in the Middle District of North Carolina found that […]
NC high court backs racially gerrymandered voting maps as drawn
Raleigh, N.C. — The North Carolina Supreme Court on Friday upheld the constitutionality of state voting maps drawn by the Republican-majority legislature in 2011. Critics of the maps filed suit against them, arguing that they violated the constitutional rights of minority voters. A coalition of groups, including the League of Women Voters, the state chapter […]
North Carolina Supreme Court Upholds Racially Gerrymandered Districts
Today the North Carolina Supreme Court issued its long-awaited ruling upholding North Carolina’s state legislative and Congressional redistricting plans. The North Carolina NAACP, the League of Women Voters, the North Carolina A. Philip Randolph Institute, Democracy NC and dozens of individual voters sued the state over the redistricting plans in November 2011. The case has […]
Court to weigh use of race in drawing political lines
Richard Wolf, USA TODAY 2:49 p.m. EDT September 1, 2014 WASHINGTON — Democrat Quinton Ross has represented a pretty safe district in the Alabama state Senate since 2002, when 72% of its voting-age population was black. In his last two elections, he ran unopposed. When it came time to redraw the state’s political lines in […]
NC Redistricting Battle Moves to State Supreme Court
On Monday, January 6, 2014 the Southern Coalition for Social Justice will present oral arguments before the North Carolina Supreme Court, urging the court to find that the 2011 redistricting maps are unconstitutional and racially discriminatory. During the summer 2013 trial, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice represented several statewide nonpartisan groups seeking to overturn […]
NC redistricting foes again seek to remove Newby
(NOTE: SCSJ represents nonpartisan civil rights plaintiff groups in this lawsuit) By GARY D. ROBERTSON — Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. — Opponents of the new boundaries for North Carolina General Assembly and congressional seats are again asking the state Supreme Court to force an associate justice to recuse himself from coming arguments on the maps’ […]