RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Federal judges now agree that North Carolina’s congressional district map drawn by Republicans is illegally gerrymandered, excessively partisan, and must quickly be redone.
The three judges ruled late Tuesday that the boundaries violate the U.S. Constitution because they were designed to benefit Republican candidates at the expense of non-Republican voters. Republican mapmakers made clear in 2016 that they wanted to retain the GOP’s 10-3 seat advantage in the congressional delegation.
The judges gave the legislature about two weeks to come up with a replacement. Candidate filing is supposed to begin Feb. 12.
There’s a good chance Republicans will try to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to block the ruling’s enforcement until the justices rule in a similar case they heard from Wisconsin.
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