A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit Monday challenging the constitutionality of new Wake County school board election maps that opponents claimed the Republican-led General Assembly drew last year for partisan purposes.
In the ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Terrence W. Boyle writes that the population variances in the new districts don’t violate the U.S. Constitution’s one-person, one-vote requirement. Boyle also writes that the claims of political bias in the new lines are unclear, making the case a question of politics, on which the court can’t rule.
One plaintiff, the Rev. Earl Johnson, president of the Raleigh-Wake Citizens Association said the ruling disenfranchises thousands of voters. But he said the ruling isn’t a surprise, noting that Boyle was appointed to the bench by Republican President Ronald Reagan.
“The judge played into the hands of the Republican-led General Assembly,” Johnson said.
