RALEIGH – A North Carolina judicial panel approved Monday the late summer redraw of state legislative districts instead of requiring a special master plan developed for consideration. That would have meant 2020 elections should be free of redistricting scrambles forced by litigious Democrats, except the judges also expedited the latest of the Left’s ‘Sue til Blue’ volleys and demanded the legislature redraw congressional maps…again.
Same stuff, different day. The decree, depending on the ultimate timeline, means some or all primaries could be pushed back from their early March date to later in 2020.
The ruling came after the same state court ruled state legislative maps unconstitutional on account of partisan gerrymandering, which is the redraw the panel just approved, a charge the U.S. Supreme Court had already scoffed at and thrown out with respect to North Carolina’s congressional districts. So Democrats, recognizing where their bread was getting buttered, brought a new lawsuit against the congressional maps, on the same terms, to the state court. Surprise, surprise; the state court judges were eager to give Democrats a helping hand.
As it turns out, it maybe the General Assembly’s quick turn around that convinced the court that another congressional redraw should be no problem.
From WBTV:
“[…] the three-judge panel entered an injunction preventing 2020 Congressional races from using 2016 maps. The order suggests that the date of the 2020 primary election may be moved for the congressional races or even all races on the ballot if necessary.
In an opinion from the preliminary injunction, the court referenced recently re-drawn North Carolina General Assembly maps as proof the legislature can draw new maps quickly.
Senator Warren Daniel (R-Burke), who co-chairs the Senate Committee on Redistricting and Elections, issued a statement in response to the court’s decision to uphold North Carolina’s state legislative maps.
“The bipartisan process that we used to create new districts was the most transparent in history. Every effort was made to work together with our Democratic colleagues to create fair, nonpartisan, and court-compliant districts. I am glad that the court recognized that and approved the new Senate and House districts. I hope we can now finally put this long, absurd, partisan court battle behind us,” Sen. Daniel said. […]”
That battle, yes, but the Democrats are far from laying down their arms in their war of redistricting conquest. They’re hoping an overreaching court will give them the political advantage they have been incapable of engendering via elections.
The contrast between the Republicans measured response after a diligent, bipartisan, transparent process and the partisan victory lap taken by Democrats foreshadows their continued siege and smear campaign. N.C. Democratic Party chairman Wayne Goodwin’s response is enough to make that clear:
“After North Carolina Republicans were caught earlier this decade carving up our state by race, they moved on to silencing voters based on their political views – and then bragged about it. Today, they were held accountable for their blatant, undemocratic efforts to rob North Carolinians of their voice. Today’s decisions are major victories for all North Carolinians, who will now elect their legislative and Congressional representatives under fairer maps. Voters should choose their representatives not the other way around, and we hope after today’s rulings that North Carolina Republicans will finally give up their hyper-partisan, unconstitutional efforts to cling onto power by robbing North Carolinians of free and fair elections.”
A strictly partisan benefit bestowed inappropriately by a court represents a ‘victory for all North Carolinians’ only if you are the leader of the receiving party. One need only look at the Democrats’ own words and accusations to reveal their nature; they tell us exactly who Democrats are.
‘silencing people based on political views‘?
The Left has become infamous for cancel culture, shutting down unfavored speech, ‘free speech zones,’ and literal violence against those with opposing views (Antifa).
‘blatant, undemocratic efforts to rob North Carolinians of their voice’?
Democrats literally sued the people of North Carolina to invalidate constitutional amendments, like Voter ID, supported by a clear majority of voters. And they even found an unfit state judge to agree with them.
And finally, Democrats describe their battle plan through projection:
‘hyper-partisan, unconstitutional efforts to cling onto power by robbing North Carolinians’
As Democrats run their victory lap, Republicans will likely be hard at work organizing another transparent redistricting session as soon as possible in order to avoid having to move the primary dates back and mixing up our elections even further.
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