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...
