Across the country, the GOP is working toward making as many congressional maps as possible directly favor their party in every election, particularly in swing states where Donald Trump won in 2016 but lost to President Biden in 2020. Pennsylvania and North Carolina are two such states, and the GOP took a case against their congressional maps all the way to the Supreme Court.
The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected Republican requests to use gerrymandered congressional maps that had been rejected by state courts in North Carolina and Pennsylvania. https://t.co/lGESUKGjQ6
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) March 7, 2022
Republicans asked the Supreme Court to overturn a decision by courts in North Carolina that blocked new and unfairly weighted congressional district maps, meaning that the prior, more Democrat-friendly map will remain in place. The GOP said that the constitutions in their state, as well as the U.S. Constitution, gives legislatures the power to draw these maps and not the courts, making the court decision unenforceable.
According to The Washington Post:
‘North Carolina’s Republican leaders had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to embrace an unprecedented theory that the state’s judiciary could not impose a new map for congressional elections, even though it found the legislature’s version had violated the state’s guarantee of free and fair elections. The U.S. Constitution, they argued, leaves that question in the hands of the legislature, not courts.’
🚨BREAKING: US Supreme Court REJECTS Republican motion to stay North Carolina congressional map. Victory for voters of North Carolina and @RedistrictFdn!
Big congrats to the @EliasLawGroup legal team lead by the incomparable Abha Khanna.https://t.co/xJgaggIP4o
— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) March 7, 2022
The cases in North Carolina and Pennsylvania were similar in terms of GOP attempts to swing an election, but lawyers for the Pennsylvania case asked the Supreme Court to put a hold on the map approved in the state ahead of the upcoming 2022 midterm elections.
‘In the Pennsylvania case, the court turned down a request to put a hold on the state Supreme Court’s decision to impose a map. The action by Democratic members of the elected court came after the Democratic governor vetoed a map passed by the legislature, which is controlled by Republicans. The challenge was brought by Republican voters and candidates.’
BREAKING: SCOTUS has refused to stay congressional maps drawn by the state Supreme Courts of North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
Alito, Thomas, and Gorsuch dissent from the North Carolina decision. Orders posted shortly.
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) March 7, 2022
The map in North Carolina is said to be particularly weighted, giving the GOP a majority of 10 out of 14 districts. In doing so, it also dilutes the votes in urban areas (where people of color live) and weights it in favor of more rural (white) areas of the state.
‘Analysts said the map created by Republican legislators after the 2020 Census would have given the GOP an edge in 10 of 14 congressional districts. Democratic justices on the elected state Supreme Court said the redistricting maps had a partisan tilt “not explained by the political geography of North Carolina.”’
🚨BREAKING: SCOTUS denies requests from Republicans in North Carolina and Pennsylvania to review & overturn congressional maps adopted by their respective state Supreme Courts. The selected maps will remain in place.
— Democracy Docket (@DemocracyDocket) March 7, 2022
