Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law. If mapmakers explicitly try to weaken voters’ power based on race, they may violate the U.S. But state courts still can void maps for being too partisan and race remains a legal tripwire in redistricting. Supreme Cour t ruled that federal courts cannot overturn unfair maps on the basis of partisanship. The drawing of legislative lines is often a raw partisan fight because whichever party controls the process can craft districts to maximize its voters’ clout - and scatter opposing voters so widely they cannot win majorities. “It depends on where you are,” Torchinsky said. Jason Torchinsky, general counsel to the National Republican Redistricting Trust, said ignoring racial data is proper in certain circumstances, as in the cases of North Carolina and Texas. They know where the Latino community lives.” Because they know the race data - they know where the Black community lives. “I suspect they’re trying to set up a defense for litigation. “This is the first redistricting round I’ve ever heard of this,” said Thomas Saenz, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which issuing Texas Republicans over maps that the GOP said it drew without looking at racial data. Plus, under certain scenarios, the Voting Rights Act requires the drawing of districts where the majority of voters are racial or ethnic minorities. But those maps still happen to strongly favor the GOP.ĭemocrats and civil rights groups are incredulous, noting that veteran lawmakers don’t need a spreadsheet to know where voters of various races and different parties live in their state. House districts and giving the GOP at least a 10-4 advantage in a state that Donald Trump narrowly won last year.Īs the once-a-decade redistricting process kicks into high gear, North Carolina is one of at least three states where Republicans say they are drawing maps without looking at racial and party data. Several publicly released congressional maps dilute Democratic votes by splitting the state’s biggest city, Charlotte - also its largest African American population center - into three or four U.S. Still, the maps Republicans are proposing would tilt heavily toward their party. So, as the GOP-controlled legislature embarks this year on its latest round of redistricting, it has pledged not to use race or partisan data to draw the political lines. A state court later struck down Republican-drawn maps as based on pure partisanship.
(AP) - A decade ago, North Carolina Republicans redrew their legislative districts to help their party in a way that a federal court ruled illegally deprived Black voters of their right to political representation.
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