State Supreme Court Gives Republicans Major Win in Key Swing State

The North Carolina Supreme Court has made a controversial decision to overturn a prior ruling that struck down alleged partisan gerrymandering. This gives the state GOP a chance to come up with new congressional lines that favor Republicans.

New Ruling

In a 5–2 ruling (pdf), the state’s highest court struck down an order that was previously issued by the same court. The prior 4–3 Democrat majority on the state Supreme Court had struck down a Republican-drawn congressional map in an early 2022 ruling.

The new majority opinion was penned by Chief Justice Paul Newby, joined by the four other Republican members of the court. Democrat Justice Anita Earls wrote a dissent that was joined by fellow Democrat Justice Michael Morgan.

No Judicially Manageable Standard

The North Carolina Supreme Court wrote in its new opinion that there is “no judicially manageable standard by which to adjudicate partisan gerrymandering claims” and said that courts “are not intended to meddle in policy matters.”

“Our constitution expressly assigns the redistricting authority to the General Assembly subject to explicit limitations in the text,” the court’s majority wrote. “Those limitations do not address partisan gerrymandering. It is not within the authority of this Court to amend the constitution to create such limitations on a responsibility that is textually assigned to another branch. Furthermore, were this Court to create such a limitation, there is no judicially discoverable or manageable standard for adjudicating such claims.”

Impact on Democrats

North Carolina Democrats stand to lose up to four seats the U.S. House of Representatives via the GOP-drawn maps, according to The Cook Political Report.

“Following decisions such as this, we must remember that, though the path forward might seem long and unyielding, an injustice that is so glaring, so lawless, and such a betrayal to the democratic values upon which our constitution is based will not stand forever,” Earls wrote in her dissent.

Controversial Decision

Attorney Marc Elias, who formerly represented the Democratic National Committee on a range of election issues before parting ways this month, claimed in a Twitter thread the state Supreme Court’s decision was troubling. The reversal means that the U.S. Supreme Court won’t decide on what he called the independent state legislature (ISL) theory on what entity has the power to set rules for federal elections.

“This will almost certainly mean SCOTUS will not decide the controversial ISL theory this term,” he wrote, linking to his Democracy Docket website. “This is bad news for voters of North Carolina. BUT, with a conservative court in place, the future of voting rights litigation in North Carolina is bleak.”