State lawmakers will have to redraw at least some N.C. House district lines in 2009, based on this 4-2 decision from the N.C. Supreme Court.
The decision resolves Pender Cty. v. Bartlett, a case filed in 2004 to challenge House District 18. Legislative leaders drew District 18 to comply with the federal Voting Rights Act. But the Pender County commissioners who filed suit contend there was no need to create a Voting Rights district in their county. (Voting Rights districts are designed to ensure that minority voters face no “dilution” of their voting strength.)
A court majority led by Justice Robert Edmunds agreed with the county commissioners, based on their interpretation of federal rulings. Edmunds advocates a “bright line” standard for determining when lawmakers must draw a district to comply with federal law:
Accordingly, if a minority group is geographically compact but nevertheless lacks a numerical majority of citizens of voting age, the minority group lacks the power to decide independently the outcome of an election, and its voting power has not been diluted by the lack of a legislative district. … House District 18 does not meet this bright line test. The district has a total African-American population of 42.89 percent, and an African-American voting age population of 39.36 percent.
Edmunds’ ruling says District 18 “must be redrawn.” Because of timing, the redrawing is “stayed until after the 2008 election.” The ruling anticipates that redrawing District 18 is likely to affect districts in Pender and New Hanover counties. But Edmunds does not specify how the new district should be drawn, so it’s unclear whether lawmakers will have to redraw the entire state map.
There’s no indication that the Senate will need new maps, other than the blanket statement: “we direct that all redistricting plans for the North Carolina House of Representatives and North Carolina Senate comply with the principal holding of this case.”
Chief Justice Sarah Parker and Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson filed separate dissents.
Remember that regardless of the outcome of the 2009 redistricting, legislators will redraw N.C. House, N.C. Senate, and U.S. House districts in 2011 after the next Census.
