U.S. Sup. Ct.;
16-1023

The U.S. Supreme Court vacated a district court order and remanded. The court held that the district court's inadequate weighing of the equities in a redistricting case necessitated remand.

The North Carolina General Assembly redrew state legislative districts in 2011 to account for population changes revealed by the 2010 census. In May 2015, several registered North Carolina voters filed suit, challenging 28 majority-black districts in the new plan as unconstitutional racial gerrymanders. The district court ruled in favor of the voters in August 2016, holding that race was the predominant factor in the design of each challenged district, and that in none of the districts was that use of race “supported by a strong basis in evidence and narrowly tailored to comply with the Voting Rights Act.” The court declined to require changes in time for the then-impending November 2016 election, but ordered the General Assembly to redraw the map before North Carolina held any future elections for that body.