A federal court on Friday unanimously ordered incorporation of a special master’s redistricting plan for use in “future legislative elections.” The plan, crafted by Stanford University law professor Nathaniel Persily, impacts nine state legislative districts adopted by lawmakers in 2017 after a prior court ruling found 28 of the state’s legislative districts used were unconstitutional racial gerrymanders..
Read the full Covington opinion and order here.
Tomas Lopez, Democracy North Carolina Executive Director, released the following statement applauding the order to cure some of the N.C. General Assembly’s most blatant racial gerrymanders:
“We applaud the court’s ruling to order a new, constitutional legislative redistricting plan be put into effect immediately for North Carolina’s 2018 elections.”
“For too long, North Carolinians have had their voices quieted by maps that packed and cracked their political power. We hope today’s ruling will lead legislative leaders to finally allow voters an opportunity to pick their lawmakers, not the other way around.”