The U.S. Supreme Court is discussing partisan gerrymandering in North Carolina today.
The high court is taking up League of Women Voters of North Carolina v. Rucho and Rucho v. Common Cause in conference, a gerrymandering case in which a federal court has twice found North Carolina’s 2016 congressional redistricting plan to be unconstitutional. Justices will discuss the case and decide whether to schedule it for arguments this term, with an announcement possible as early as Monday morning.
The court has taken up partisan gerrymandering cases before, but it never has established a standard to outlaw the issue. North Carolina voting rights advocates think League of Women Voters and Common Cause could be the cases to change that (both cases were tried and decided together).
Plaintiffs in both cases have asked the high court to affirm the lower court’s second opinion striking the 2016 congressional map as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.
Read more about the two cases here and here.