On May 22, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-3 that North Carolina’s original U.S. House district boundaries at the beginning of this decade were unlawful. Cooper v Harris, 15-1262. The vote was 5-3. Justice Gorsuch did not participate because he had not been on the court when the case had been argued. Justices in the majority are the author, Elena Kagan; and Stephen Breyer, Ruth Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, and Clarence Thomas.

This decision will not compel the legislature to redraw the districts. A 3-judge U.S. District Court had also invalidated the districts on February 5, 2016. In response, the state had redrawn them. Because of the redrawing early in 2016, North Carolina had held two primaries in 2016. The presidential, U.S. Senate, and state office primaries had been March 15, 2016; the U.S. House primaries had been on June 7, 2016.

The case name in the U.S. Supreme Court is Cooper v Harris, 15-1262. In the 3-judge court it had been Harris v McCrory. It is somewhat ironic that the U.S. Supreme Court name lists Governor Roy Cooper as the appellant, because Governor Cooper is a Democrat and he welcomes the May 22 decision. As a result of the May 22 decision, it will be easier for Democrats to challenge other gerrymandered districts in the south. See Rick Hasen’s analysis of the decision.

There are other pending cases, challenging the new (2016) districts.