Fed Judges Uphold Some Redrawn NC Areas11/21 06:14

   

   RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Federal judges on Thursday upheld several U.S. House 
districts that North Carolina Republicans drew in 2023 that helped the GOP gain 
additional seats the following year. They rejected accusations the lines 
unlawfully fractured and packed Black voters to weaken their voting power.

   The order by three judges -- all of whom were nominated to the bench by GOP 
presidents -- didn't rule on changes made last month to the 1st Congressional 
District that are designed to unseat Democratic Rep. Don Davis in 2026.

   That alteration, completed at the urging of President Donald Trump as part 
of an ongoing national mid-decade redistricting fray, is still being considered 
by the panel. The judges heard arguments on Wednesday in Winston-Salem but 
didn't immediately rule on whether they would block now the use of the 1st 
District and the adjoining 3rd District for next year's election while more 
legal arguments are made. Candidate filing for the 2026 elections is set to 
begin Dec. 1.

   Many allegations made by the state NAACP, Common Cause and voters cover both 
2023 and 2025 changes, in particular claims of voter dilution and racial 
discrimination violating the U.S. Constitution and Voting Rights Act.

   The 2023 map helped turn a 7-7 North Carolina delegation into one in which 
Republicans won 10 of the 14 seats in 2024. Three Democrats chose not to seek 
reelection, saying it was essentially impossible to get reelected under the 
recast lines.

   Thursday's ruling by 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Allison Rushing 
and District Judges Thomas Schroeder and Richard Myers rejected claims that GOP 
legislators drew lines in 2023 so skewed for Republicans that many Black voters 
could not elect their preferred candidates.

   "We conclude that the General Assembly did not violate the Constitution or 
the VRA in its 2023 redistricting," they wrote in a 181-page order.

   The judges convened a trial several months ago hearing testimony for a pair 
of lawsuits that challenged portions of maps redrawn in 2023. Thursday's 
decision focused on five congressional districts: three in the Greensboro 
region and two in and around Charlotte, as well as three state Senate 
districts. The judges also upheld the Senate districts.

   The plaintiffs argued Republicans split and weakened the Greensboro region's 
concentrated Black voting population within multiple U.S. House districts. 
Then-Rep. Kathy Manning, a Greensboro Democrat, decided not to run again last 
year because her district shifted to the right. They also cited what they 
called packing Black voting-age residents into a Charlotte-area congressional 
district that in turn helped Republican Tim Moore win an adjoining district.

   Attorneys for Republican leaders argued that lawfully partisan -- and not 
racial -- considerations helped inform decision-making on the 2023 map. They 
pointed out that no information on the racial makeup of regions were used in 
drawing the lines. A 2019 U.S. Supreme Court decision essentially neutered 
federal legal claims of illegal partisan gerrymandering going forward.

   The judges' order favoring the GOP lawmakers said "the circumstances 
surrounding the plans' enactment and the resulting district configurations and 
composition are consistent with the General Assembly's non-racial motivations, 
which included traditional districting criteria, North Carolina law, and 
partisan performance."

   The ruling can be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Spokespeople for 
Republican legislative leaders didn't immediately respond late Thursday to 
emailed requests for comment. A lawyers group representing the state NAACP and 
others said it was disappointed with the ruling.

   Still at issue are the changes made to the 1st and 3rd Districts that GOP 
legislators said are designed to create an 11-3 seat majority in 2026. Davis 
continues a line of Black representatives elected from the 1st District going 
back more than 30 years. But he won his second term by less than 2 percentage 
points.

   North Carolina is among several states where Trump has pushed for mid-decade 
map changes ahead of the 2026 elections. This week, a federal court blocked 
Texas from using a GOP-engineered map.