Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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8 UCW FEBRUARY 9 - 15, 2022 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Political gerrymandering is dead in North Carolina, at least for now. e state Supreme Court issued an order late Friday striking down the Republican-drawn political maps slated to be used for the rest of the de- cade. Groups challenging the maps hit a grand slam, winning on each of their constitutional claims. A 4-3 majority of the Supreme Court found that the state legislative and congressional maps were "unconstitu- tional beyond a reasonable doubt un- der the free elections clause, the equal protection clause, the free speech clause and the freedom of assembly clause of the North Carolina Constitu- tion," according to the order, written by Democratic Justice Robin Hudson. e General Assembly will have to redraw maps and submit them by noon Feb. 18 to a three-judge panel in Superior Court for approval. If the panel decides the General Assembly's new maps don't meet the court's new standards, it can select maps submitted by the groups who sued the state. Whatever the trial court selects, the state or any of the chal- lengers can appeal the decision by 5 p.m. Feb. 23. at's the day before candidate filing is set to open again, so there is a chance North Carolina will see a repeat of what happened in December, when the courts shut down candidate filing — then reopened it, then shut it down again. Because of the tight timeline, the Supreme Court only issued an order, not an opinion, meaning that it told the relevant groups what they had to do next but did not describe the full legal justifications underpinning the decision. e opinion will be submit- ted later, according to the document. Chief Justice Paul Newby, a Republi- can elected in 2020, expressed his frus- tration with the decision in a snappy dissent, writing that the Democratic- majority court interpreted the consti- tution in such a way that left "no limits to this Court's power." Since the state constitution does not put an explicit limit on partisan ger- rymandering, Newby argued, the only ways to do so are by statute or a con- stitutional amendment. Both would require the legislature to act to limit its own authority to draw partisan maps. Either the General Assembly takes the Supreme Court's order and at- tempts to draw constitutional maps or takes the risk that the courts will choose maps submitted by the groups that sued. It will also have to submit the data it used to draw the maps and the methods used to measure partisan fairness. e Supreme Court recommended, but did not require, five different met- rics for measuring the partisan fairness of a map. " To comply with the limitations con- tained in the North Carolina Constitu- tion, which are applicable to redistrict- ing plans, the General Assembly must not diminish or dilute any individual's vote on the basis of partisan affilia- tion," the majority wrote. But Newby wrote those guidelines are "vague and undefined," meaning only the court itself will be able to de- fine the constitutionality of new maps. "e question of how much parti- san consideration is unconstitutional remains a mystery, as does what is meant by 'substantially equal voting power on the basis of partisan affilia- tion,'" Newby wrote. e Republican-controlled legisla- ture, which drew the maps and whose leaders are the named defendants in the case, can partially appeal the deci- sion to the U.S. Supreme Court, at least regarding the congressional map. ough it's speculation, that appeal is likely, according to Catawba College political science professor Michael Bitzer. North Carolina Justices: Redraw the maps by JORDAN WILKIE JORDAN WILKIE, Carolina Public Press. COMMENTS? editor@upandcom- ingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. E V E N I N G O F C A R E D I N N E R Twenty Fifth Annual THANK YOU to all of our sponsors and committee members for a successful event! *Tax Deductible Contribution Your contribution may be tax deductible in accordance with the tax law. Financial information about this organization and a copy of its license are available from the State Solicitation Licensing Section at 1-919-807-2214. The license is not an endorsement by the State. 7:00 p.m. at one of our host homes $75 per person* T W E N T Y T H I R D A N N U t w e n t y fi r s t a n n u a Nouvelle Cuisine Sponsors ($2,500) Odell Smith and Sons Ray and Daphne Manning Advised Fund Cargill Inc. 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