UPDATED: Supreme Court says North Carolina does not have to immediately redraw congressional maps

[BumRushDaShow]

Last edited Thu Jan 18, 2018, 09:29 PM - Edit history (2)

Source: Washington Post

The Supreme Court said late Thursday that North Carolina does not immediately have to redraw its congressional district maps, meaning that the 2018 elections will likely be held in districts that a lower court found unconstitutional.

The court granted a request from North Carolinas Republican legislative leaders to put the lower courts ruling on hold. The decision was not unexpected, because the Supreme Court generally is reluctant to require the drawing of new districts before it has had a chance to review a lower courts ruling that such an action is warranted, especially in an election year. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor said they would not have granted the request. The practical effect is that this years elections will almost surely be conducted under the 2016 boundaries, in which Republicans hold 10 of the 13 congressional seats. The GOP dominations of the congressional delegation belies North Carolinas recent history as a battleground state. It has a Democratic governor and attorney general, who have declined to defend the maps.

A three-judge panel last week invalidated the map drawn by the Republican-controlled legislature in 2016, calling it improper partisan gerrymandering. The decision was the first striking down a congressional map on the grounds that it was rigged in favor of a political party. The court panel ordered lawmakers to redraw the boundaries by Jan. 29. But the legislative leaders argued that the uniqueness of the court order was the reason the Supreme Court should put it on hold.

The Supreme Court has never thrown out a states electoral district map because of partisan gerrymandering. It has two cases on its docket that will decide just that question but they are unlikely to be resolved in time to affect any plan to redraw the North Carolina districts.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-says-north-carolina-does-not-have-to-immediately-redraw-congressional-maps-that-a-lower-court-ruled-unconstitutional/2018/01/18/2e872818-fca1-11e7-8f66-2df0b94bb98a_story.html

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Full title: Supreme Court says North Carolina does not have to immediately redraw congressional maps that a lower court ruled unconstitutional

ETA (thanks to poster DAMANgoldberg) - tweet with copy of order

Link to tweet

TEXT
Rep. Chaz Beasley
✔
@ChazBeasley

Here is the Order that provides a temporary stay in the partisan gerrymandering case - means no new congressional districts right now. #ncpol
7:19 PM - Jan 18, 2018


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ORIGINAL ARTICLE -

The Supreme Court said Thursday night that North Carolina does not immediately have to redraw its congressional district maps, meaning the 2018 elections will be held in districts that a lower court found unconstitutional.

The court granted a request from North Carolinas Republican legislative leaders to put the lower courts ruling on hold. The decision was not unexpected, because generally, the Supreme Court is reluctant to require the drawing of new districts before it has had a chance to review a lower courts ruling that such an action is warranted.

Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor said they would not have granted the request.

This is a developing story. It will be updated.

[bluestarone]

1. total bullshit

here we go again

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Hopefully the stay will be brief. nt

[Eliot Rosewater]

3. 5 of the SC are not judges, they are political hacks

[highplainsdem]

11. +1,000,000

[BigmanPigman]

4. FUCK the Supreme Court!

(except for those two justices of course).

[Hortensis]

15. Yes. Once again the sovereignty of the people

is subjugated by conservatives to the very process factors that are supposed to serve it. And we know why.

[nuxvomica]

5. Actually, they should redraw to favor Democrats

For as many election cycles as the Republicans enjoyed illegally. Otherwise, no consequences for illegal behavior.

[Wounded Bear]

6. Not surprising, I guess...

since they stole a seat.

[DAMANgoldberg]

7. A copy of the order in this Tweet.

Link to tweet

[BumRushDaShow]

10. Thank you. I added it to the OP.

[bucolic_frolic]

8. Speechless

Not much good is happening right now as the results of all these long term and short term policies ruin freedom and rights.

It will be a long slog ahead. Decades.

[LenaBaby61]

16. It will be a long slog ahead. Decades.

I have to say that I'm not too excited about this blue wave which is supposed to be coming later on this year. Yes, I do believe that Dems will come out to vote, but we STILL don't know if our votes will be collected and counted fairly by thuglicans, and as things stand not much has improved in terms of voting across this country. Our voting system is still severely compromised (Increasing GOP voter-suppression/gerrymandering), and you can best believe that the ruskies are going to be involved AGAIN in our elections, only this time our mid-terms.

[SWBTATTReg]

9. Wrong, plain wrong...

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

12. They have some of the weirdest Congressional District boundaries.

They look like a multi-tentacle sea creature.

[RandomAccess]

13. Dammit

NOT what we need.

[mopinko]

14. there are fair maps out there. pick one. or hire a mathematician.

like, maybe, one of the ones that testified.

dont make it seem like some big deal. it isnt.
there's prolly a fucking app for that.

[Honeycombe8]

17. It's a Republican S.Ct., now. nt

[CousinIT]

18. "The court offered no reason for its decision." (because they CAN'T w/o appearing BIASED)

Well THERE's a surprise eh? GUESS how this USSC will rule on the extreme gerrymandering cases brought before it? It will of course declare them perfectly legal and acceptable across the land. Anybody expecting any other kind of ruling from this court is fooling themselves. Notice the sentence: "The court offered no reason for its decision." - The REASON is that court is DOMINATED - thanks to the STOLEN seat occupied by Neal Gorsuch - by REPUBLICANS, who stand to GAIN handsomely from extremely gerrymandered districts.

Reuters on Twitter:

Link to tweet

EDIT to add link: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-election/supreme-court-blocks-redrawing-of-north-carolina-congressional-maps-idUSKBN1F73C1

(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday blocked a lower court’s order for North Carolina to rework its congressional map because Republicans violated the Constitution by drawing electoral districts intended to maximize their party’s chances of winning.

The conservative-majority court granted a bid by Republican legislators in North Carolina to suspend the Jan. 9 order by a federal court panel in Greensboro that gave the Republican-controlled General Assembly until Jan. 24 to come up with a new map for U.S. House of Representatives districts.

Two liberal justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, objected to the high court’s action.

The Supreme Court’s decision to stay the order reduces the chance that the current district lines will be altered ahead of the November mid-term congressional elections. The court offered no reason for its decision.