Trash our districts

Published February 9, 2016

Editorial by Greensboro News-Record, February 9, 2016.

North Carolina’s congressional map belongs in the trash. But practical necessity argues for keeping it for one more election.

A panel of federal judges ruled Friday that the legislature violated the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause when it drew the 1st and 12th congressional districts in 2011. It ordered the legislature to fix them by Feb. 19. With absentee voting already begun ahead of the March 15 primary, and because changes to one district affect districts that border it, the remedy is disruptive.

Yet the judges were right to point to the harm done by partisan politicians’ cynical manipulations. “Unfettered gerrymandering is negatively impacting our republican form of government,” Judge Max O. Cogburn Jr. wrote in a concurring opinion. “Elections should be decided through a contest of issues, not skillful mapmaking.”

The maps were deftly drawn by Republican legislators, with the result that their party controls 10 of the state’s 13 congressional districts. Two of the exceptions are the 1st and 12th, both crafted to elect black representatives. Democrat Alma Adams of Greensboro holds the 12th District seat.

Those districts have existed for a quarter-century. In 2011, lawmakers increased the black voting-age population in both to more than 50 percent — even though black candidates had been winning easily when the districts held smaller concentrations of black voters.

In fact, the court found, legislators set a racial quota for those districts of more than 50 percent. Other traditional redistricting criteria were subordinated to meeting that quota, using supposed requirements of the Voting Rights Act as a pretext for doing so, the judges found. This balkanization of voters amounted to impermissible racial gerrymandering.

During arguments before this panel, legislators denied racial motives, contending they only meant to gain partisan advantages. By packing more black Democratic voters into two districts, they made adjoining districts more white and Republican. Who could doubt that was their motive? But, as the judges noted, Republican legislators in 2011 denied engaging in “extreme political gerrymandering.” The judges wouldn’t let them have it both ways. The evidence on the record showed that achieving the 50 percent-plus black voting-age population in the two districts was their overriding objective.

This decision directly contradicts December’s 4-3 ruling by the N.C. Supreme Court, in which the four justices who are registered Republicans upheld the districts and the three registered Democrats dissented.

The federal judges appeared to take less partisan positions. Two, including the majority opinion’s author, Roger L. Gregory, were appointed by Republican President George W. Bush. Bush appointee William L. Osteen Jr. concurred in regard to the 1st District but would let the 12th District stand, reluctantly. He wrote: “I differ with the well-reasoned opinion of my colleagues only as to the degree to which race was a favor in the drawing of CD 12.”

One problem is the unsettled state of redistricting jurisprudence, where conflicting and sometimes confusing rulings are the norm. The U.S. Supreme Court must provide more clarity.

In the meantime, the state has asked for a stay of the North Carolina decision so that this year’s elections can proceed as scheduled. The court should grant the request to avoid chaos.

But justice is due. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately must uphold and clarify last week’s ruling, and the legislature must put compliant congressional districts in place by 2018. The legislature also should create a nonpartisan redistricting process so that representatives will be chosen through fair elections, not skillful mapmaking.

http://www.greensboro.com/opinion/n_and_r_editorials/our-opinion-trash-our-districts/article_cb1e0a66-ec78-58e5-8eeb-d8ff815073e8.html

February 9, 2016 at 8:35 am
Richard L Bunce says:

USSC needs to clarify to keep Federal judges in line... No people in the process, no demographic data in the process, no gerrymandering.

http://rangevoting.org/GerryExec.html

February 9, 2016 at 4:42 pm
bruce stanley says:

I like the algorithm but let's wait until the next decade so Republicans can enjoy at least one complete decade of having written the lines, after suffering through decades of democrats drawing the lines. Democrats invented gerrymandering but they don't like it when republicans get to do it too.

February 10, 2016 at 10:27 am
Richard L Bunce says:

It will only change when Republicans are in the majority in the Legislature and can get it in the State Constitution... otherwise as soon the the Democrats are back in the majority it will be same old same old hiding behind the 14th Amendment and CRA... not electing a majority of Democratic Party candidates will be declared a disparate impact.