Supreme Court refuses to immediately hear NC gerrymandering case

The Supreme Court denied a request Tuesday to immediately take up a partisan gerrymandering case out of North Carolina.

Common Cause and the League of Women Voters had asked the Supreme Court to expedite a review of the case after the justices granted a request last month from state officials to temporarily block a lower court ruling requiring the state’s congressional voter map be redrawn.

A three-judge panel on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina ruled in January that the state’s map was an unconstitutional gerrymander.

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The lower court said the state’s General Assembly had drawn congressional voter districts “with the intent of discriminating against voters who favored non-Republican candidates” and gave lawmakers until Jan. 29 to come up with a remedial plan.

The Supreme Court agreed to temporarily block the lower court ruling but has not yet decided to take the case.

Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor would have granted the request for expedited review of the case, according to the court order.

The court’s decision Tuesday could signal the justices want to rule in partisan gerrymandering cases from Wisconsin and Maryland that are before them before taking a third case.

The cases have the potential to change the way districts are drawn and create a first-ever standard for determining when states have crossed the line in drawing districts to increase the political power of one party over another.

This story was updated at 3:12 p.m.