On February 22, the voters who brought the North Carolina racial gerrymandering lawsuit against the state’s original U.S. House district boundaries filed a motion with the 3-judge U.S. District Court. It says, “The map adopted by the General Assembly (last week) has been subject to considerable criticism, and Plaintiffs share those deep concerns. Their preliminary analysis of the new plan suggests that it is no more appropriate than the version struck down by the Court.”
The voters want briefs over the constitutionality and legality of the new plan to be completed quickly, and they want a court hearing on March 11.
The new plan isn’t the best, but it is better than all the other plans we’ve had in NC over the past several decades. Many point to the 12th district as evidence of gerrymandering by Republicans, when the 12th has looked that way for a lot longer than Republicans have controlled the legislature. Would the plaintiffs in this case actually be satisfied if the 2000-2010 plan was brought back?
Did the plaintiffs actually file anything?
The court has set a hearing for April 11, 2016.