Supreme Court Should Reject North Carolina’s Racial Gerrymander in Harris v. McCrory

Today, the Campaign Legal Center filed a friend-of-the-court brief in Harris v. McCrory, urging the Supreme Court to uphold North Carolina voters’ argument that the state used an impermissible racial quota to draw the state’s first and twelfth congressional districts.

“The Court should reject North Carolina’s argument that the Voting Rights Act required it to purposefully pack black voters into districts to reach some mechanical threshold ,” said Gerry Hebert, Director of Voting Rights and Redistricting Program at the Campaign Legal Center.

Hebert added: “The Court should not allow partisan officials to count the voting rights of minorities in North Carolina less than others in the state, which the General Assembly is effectively doing. This case is a clear cut example of legislators improperly using race as a proxy to achieve political gains.”

CLC filed another Supreme Court brief on the issue of racial gerrymandering this Term. In Bethune Hill v. Virginia State Board of Elections, CLC submitted a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the Virginia citizens and voters that challenged Virginia’s racial gerrymander. CLC also submitted a friend-of-the-court brief in Wittman v. Personhuballah last Term.