North Carolina – Last Thursday, a three-judge U.S. District Court panel ruled that 28 of the Republican-drawn districts for the N.C. legislature were indeed unconstitutional racial gerrymanders. The Republican practice of making “safe” minority districts even “safer” to comply with the Voting Rights Act was completely disavowed by the court. In short, the Voting Rights Act does not mandate districts in which minorities are already successful at electing their preferred candidates, to be packed with even more minority voters – something that North Carolina insisted was the case.
The districts will stand for the 2016 election however. The court has ordered a remedial map from the legislature next year.
