A panel of three North Carolina superior court judges temporarily blocked the state's Republican-drawn congressional map Monday, ruling that plaintiffs have a "substantial likelihood" of proving the current districts "are extreme partisan gerrymanders" in violation of the state constitution. The three judges in Wake County Superior Court said North Carolina can't use the current map in the 2020 election cycle, starting with the March 3 primary, but did not give a firm deadline for the new maps to be drawn.
The judges encouraged North Carolina's GOP-controlled legislature to redraw the map on its own, presumably by the Dec. 15 deadline set out by the State Board of Elections. Just two months ago, the same three judges threw out state legislative districts due to extreme partisan gerrymandering. The congressional map lawsuit, filed Sept. 27 by a group of Democratic and independent voters, is likely to succeed because the evidence will be similar in both cases, the judges said.
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