North Carolina congressional map challenged in gerrymandering complaint News
Slowking4, GFDL 1.2, via Wikimedia Commons
North Carolina congressional map challenged in gerrymandering complaint

The National Redistricting Foundation on Friday filed a lawsuit claiming North Carolina’s 2016 congressional map violated the state Constitution and created a partisan advantage for Republicans.

The complaint comes nearly a month after a state court held that North Carolina’s state legislative districts were unconstitutionally gerrymandered towards Republican interest.

The new legal challenge states that Republican lawmakers adopted a “partisan advantage” criterion and directed that 13 districts be constructed to “maintain the current partisan makeup of North Carolina’s congressional delegation, namely, 10 Republicans and 3 Democrats.”

The complaint says the 2016 map is “impervious to the will of the People,” referencing that the Republicans won 10 of 13 seats in both elections under the 2016 plan, “including the blue wave of 2018 when Democratic congressional candidates received a majority of the statewide vote.”

The National Redistricting Foundation is asking the court to find the 2016 plan unconstitutional and enjoin defendants from using past political data and election results in any future redistricting.