On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it would not be fast-tracking North Carolina's partisan gerrymandering case. The decision rejecting a bid by opponents of the GOP-drawn congressional map was widely expected.
On January 9th, a panel of federal judges struck down North Carolina's congressional voting map. They found that Republican legislators in the state had violated the Constitution by drawing congressional voting districts to hurt the electoral chances of Democratic candidates. The ruling was the first time that a federal court had blocked a congressional map because of a partisan gerrymander, and it instantly endangered Republican seats in the coming elections.
Less than two weeks later, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the trial court's order requiring lawmakers to revise the map.
Catawba College Professor Michael Bitzer says that order may have telegraphed this latest decision.
“I think we are all in a holding pattern on the redistricting cases primarily out of Wisconsin and Maryland that are coming down any day now,” says Bitzer. “Those cases are going to set the standard for which North Carolina and perhaps other states have to respond.”
As a result, the 2018 North Carolina congressional elections are now almost certain to take place under the current map.
The plaintiff in Tuesday's decision was Common Cause, a progressive watchdog organization based in Washington D.C. Calling the North Carolina maps gerrymandered and unconstitutional, the non-profit had hoped to get a new map in place this year in time for the midterm elections. In the wake of the High Court's denial, they renewed their calls for SCOTUS to adopt a standard of measuring partisan gerrymandering this term.