On January 12, a North Carolina 3-judge state court heard three and one-half hours of argument over the redistricting plan, but not only didn’t rule from the bench, but scheduled another hearing for January 20. See this story.

It is somewhat likely that North Carolina will postpone its May primary. If that happens, independent candidates will have more time to submit petitions. Currently, independent candidate petitions are due in June. In 2004, when redistricting was late to be settled, North Carolina extended the independent candidate deadline for all offices, not just district offices.