In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held in 2019 that partisan redistricting is a political question not reviewable by federal courts. The ruling kicked the responsibility back to the states — our courts, the legislature, the public — to police redistricting.
Now, after months of state court wrangling over maps and the second-longest legislative session in North Carolina’s history which saw even more map-making, the public finally gets its chance to “draw the line,” and identify 2019 policies and practices that led to unfair maps, and more extreme proposals passed by a gerrymandered state legislature.
“Draw the Line” Town Halls (including Greensboro on 12/5; Fayetteville on 12/9; and Greenville on 12/10) will give North Carolinians a first chance post session to ask state lawmakers whose side they were on in 2019 on everything from limits to voting access, to attacks on immigrants, to the state budget, and make their voices heard on ‘bad bills’ from 2019 and reforms they’d like to see in future sessions.
Some of the most high profile bills included in the town hall discussion are:
- More limits to Voting Access (Senate Bill 824)
- Controversial State Budget (House Bill 966)
- Attacks on Safe Abortion (House Bill 602/Senate Bill 359)
- Attacks on Immigrants (House Bill 370)
- Unreliable Voter Purges (Senate Bill 250)
- More Redistricting (House Bill 1029, Congressional; House Bill 1020, Legislative)