On February 29, the plaintiffs in Harris v McCrory, the North Carolina lawsuit over U.S. House district boundaries, filed this brief in Harris v McCrory, m.d., 1:13cv-949. They argue that the new districts approved by the legislature last month represent an unconstitutional gerrymander.

See especially page 30 and the following pages, where the plaintiffs remind the Court that the U.S. Supreme Court has said in the past that extreme partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional. This is generally forgotten, because the U.S. Supreme Court has not yet invalidated any state’s districts on the grounds of partisan gerrymandering, because the Court has never agreed on an objective standard to measure it. But, this case may be the first. The legislators who drew the new districts last month openly admitted that they drew a partisan gerrymander. North Carolina has 13 districts. The Republican majority in the legislature drew districts that are virtually guaranteed to produce Republican winners in 10 of those districts. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.