Federal Judge Rules In Republicans’ Favor In Redistricting Dispute Over N.C. Senate Maps
Yesterday, Federal District Court Judge James Dever III issued an order siding with Republican legislative leaders against plaintiffs who brought complaint alleging that the North Carolina Senate maps violated the Voting Rights Act.
Here are some key quotes from Judge Dever’s ruling:
“The case does not involve the General Assembly engaging in the race-based districting or the odious practice of sorting voters based on race. Indeed, the record demonstrates that when the General Assembly drew the maps and created all the district in North Carolina Senate Bill 758 in October 2023 for use in the 2024 elections, the General Assembly did not have racial data in the computer.”
“Moreover, on November 5, 2024, North Carolina voters voted in the Senate and House Districted created in these maps without racial data and elected 10 out of 50 African American Senators (i.e., 20% of the Senate) and 28 of the 120 African American Representatives (i.e., 23.3% of the House). Thus, African-American legislators in North Carolina hold 21.7% of the legislative seats. These numbers approximate or exceed North Carolina’s voting age population of 21.37% and its African-American population of 22%.
“In entering this judgment, the court finds that plaintiffs have failed to prove their Section 2 claim. Thus the General Assembly need not use the odious practice of sorting voters based or the “politics of second best” to create a majority-black Senate district in northeast North Carolina.”
“As the Supreme Court observed in De Grandy 31 years ago, ‘for all the virtues of majority-minority district as remedial devices, they relay of quintessentially race-conscious calculus aptly described as the politics of a second best.’”
The decisive decision from Denver likely ends this redistricting litigation. However, other lawsuits are still outstanding that could force a round of redistricting.
Senate Leader Phil Berger said, “Today, the court confirmed the North Carolina General Assembly was right not use race in its redistricting process. The VRA can’t be weaponized to make up for the shortcomings of the Democratic Party. I am glad this latest attempt by the partisan interest to undo our fair and legal Senate districts was rejected by the court.”
