Eric Holder-affiliated group challenging NC congressional district map

A nonprofit affiliated with former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's nationwide push to end gerrymandering filed a lawsuit in Wake County on Friday challenging North Carolina's congressional district map.

Posted 10:34 p.m. Sep 26, 2019 — Updated 4:47 p.m. Sep 27, 2019

RALEIGH, N.C. — A nonprofit affiliated with former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's nationwide push to end gerrymandering filed a lawsuit in Wake County on Friday challenging North Carolina's congressional district map.

The National Redistricting Foundation is backing a lawsuit filed by individuals in each of the state's 13 congressional districts, alleging that the General Assembly illegally drew the district lines in 2016 to favor Republican candidates.

A similar argument went before the U.S. Supreme Court in March, but the high court ruled 5-4 in June that partisan gerrymandering is "beyond the reach of the federal courts."

But in state court, several plaintiffs successfully challenged legislative districts drawn in 2017 on the argument that partisan gerrymandering violates North Carolina's constitution. A three-judge panel recently ordered lawmakers to redraw the maps without considering voting patterns of individual precincts.

The House and the Senate tweaked maps used as evidence in that case that were produced by an algorithm and submitted them last week to the court for review.

"The 2016 congressional map should now meet the same fate as the unconstitutional and invalidated state legislative maps," the lawsuit states. "The facts of this case are undisputed, and the law of North Carolina is now settled. This court should invalidate the gerrymandered 2016 congressional map immediately and order a new, fair map for use in the 2020 elections."

Partisan gerrymandering "strikes at the heart of the Free Elections Clause" of the state constitution, which "guarantees that all elections must be conducted freely and honestly to ascertain, fairly and truthfully, the will of the people," the lawsuit alleges. The U.S. Consistution doesn't have a similar clause.

GOP lawmakers included partisan advantage among the criteria used to draw the 2016 congressional district map. Rep. David Lewis, R-Harnett, who oversaw the redistricting effort, was quoted at the time that he wanted a 10-3 map in favor of Republicans only because he couldn't figure out a way to fairly draw an 11-2 map.

Patrick Rodenbush, spokesman for the National Redistricting Foundation, noted that Democratic candidates won 47 percent of the vote statewide in 2016 and a majority of the vote statewide last year – after accounting for an uncontested race. Yet, Republicans continue to hold 10 of the state's 13 seats in the U.S. House.

Holder chairs the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, a Democratic Party-aligned PAC, and the National Redistricting Foundation is an affiliated 501(c)(3) nonprofit created to challenge Republican officials in various states over alleged Voting Rights Act infractions and gerrymandering of state legislative and congressional districts ahead of the 2020 U.S. census.

"Eric Holder’s sue ‘til blue endgame is a Democratic legislative majority created by Democratic judges," Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger said in a statement. "Anybody who doubts that Holder’s support for ‘fair maps’ is a phony front to help Democrats just needs to answer one question: How many blue states has Holder sued?"

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