State court action challenging the North Carolina’s enacted state legislative and congressional redistricting maps on the grounds of partisan gerrymandering and racial vote dilution.

This case was consolidated with a separate challenge (Harper v. Hall) that argues the 2020 congressional map violates the state’s constitutional guarantees of free, fair and honest elections (art. I § 10), equal protection under the law (art. I § 19), freedom of speech (art. 1 § 12), and freedom of assembly (art. 1 § 14).

Common Cause intervened with an additional argument that the legislature violated a clear mandate from the state Supreme Court in in 2002 that “legislative districts required by the VRA shall be formed prior to creation of non-VRA districts.”

On Jan. 11, 2022, the state trial court ruled that: (1) the enacted maps are not unconstitutional as a result of partisan gerrymandering; (2) the enacted maps are not unconstitutional as a result of racial vote dilution; (3) the enacted maps do not violate the Free Elections Clause, the Equal Protection Clause, the Free Speech Clause, or the Right of Assembly Clause; and (4) the plaintiffs’ claims are non-justiciable political questions.

On Feb. 4, 2022, the state supreme court struck down both the legislative and congressional redistricting maps, finding them “unconstitutional beyond a reasonable doubt under the free elections clause, the equal protection clause, the free speech clause, and the freedom of assembly clause of the North Carolina Constitution.”