The United States Supreme Court Sidesteps Partisan Gerrymandering, But Leaves The Door Open For Future Resolution

• Published date: 11 March 2022
• Subject Matter: Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Trials & Appeals & Compensation
• Law Firm: Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd
• Author: Mr Jonathan D. Klett and William C. McKinney

On Monday, March 7, 2022, the United States Supreme Court allowed court-drawn maps to stand for the upcoming 2022 midterm elections in North Carolina. In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court denied an application for emergency stay filed by the North Carolina General Assembly's Republican legislative leadership to reinstate the remedial United States congressional maps enacted on February 17, 2022. The Supreme Court appears to have denied the application, in part, on the grounds that it was too late to order that the district lines be changed for the 2022 primary and general elections.

The Supreme Court's decision ends an approximately four-month litigation battle, beginning in North Carolina Superior Court. The originally drawn United States congressional map and legislative maps were enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly on November 4, 2021. These maps were challenged by plaintiffs who claimed the maps were an unconstitutional racial and partisan gerrymander under the North Carolina Constitution. On February 14, 2022, the North Carolina Supreme Court issued an Opinion holding that partisan gerrymandering claims are justiciable under the North Carolina Constitution and that the maps enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly violated several rights guaranteed to the North Carolina people by the North Carolina Constitution.

In its Opinion, the North Carolina Supreme Court identified constitutional parameters for partisan gerrymandering for future redistricting maps. When a districting plan "systematically makes it harder for one group of voters" because of their party affiliation "to elect a governing majority than individuals in a favored party of equal size," it "unconstitutionally infringes" upon voters' "fundamental rights to vote on equal terms and to substantially equal voting power." Harper v. Hall, --- S.E.2d ---, No. 413PA21, 2022 WL 496215, at *35 (N.C. Feb. 14, 2022). The North Carolina Supreme Court found that the previously enacted maps were unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders and remanded the case to the trial court to "oversee the redrawing of the maps by the General Assembly or, if necessary, by the court." Id. at *2.

To that end, the trial court appointed three Special Masters to oversee the review of any remedial redistricting plans. The North Carolina General Assembly enacted remedial maps on February 17, 2022,¹ and the plaintiffs submitted maps as well for the trial court's consideration. On February 23, 2022, the trial...