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Tuesday, April 04, 2017

Another GOP Redistricting Map Ruled Unconstitutional

North Carolina's Republican-controlled legislature suffered another redistricting defeat Monday when a federal court ruled the map it drew and passed for boundaries for Greensboro's city council seats are unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles blocked permanently the enforcement of a 2015 law approved by the General Assembly that directed how council members in North Carolina's third-largest city would be elected and laid out new district lines. Some local citizens sued, and the city later joined in the lawsuit to challenge another provision preventing changes to Greensboro city government through local referenda.

Eagles sided with those who sued, who argued the challenged district boundaries were drawn to attempt to guarantee a partisan advantage for Republicans by packing Democratic voters in to certain districts, according to her ruling. She wrote population differences among the eight council districts created weren't justified by legitimate redistricting criteria. Democrats generally have comprised the majority of the council over the past two decades.

"This is not a case where it is difficult to discern legislative motivation," Eagles wrote. "The districting plan in the act violates the equal protection rights of the plaintiffs and all Greensboro voters."

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

So why aren't Maryland's wildly Gerrymandered maps ruled unconstitutional?

Anonymous said...

Where is Frosh on this subject? He will not file a suit because he knows it will harm his DumbocRAT party. Hogan should force him into filing a lawsuit on behalf of all Marylanders. O'Malley / Miller / Busch did all the gerrymandering they could to allow the DumbocRATs to keep control of MD politics. All Marylanders are not getting equal representation.

Anonymous said...

You took the words right out of my mouth. I suppose it's ok if you're a Dem.

Anonymous said...

No what happened with maryland redistricting is that it was gerrymandered by the democrats and they put it on the ballot in 2012 and it was passed, now they say "the voters support it"