The U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed a federal court ruling that forced legislators to redraw the state's political maps last year. The court says mapmakers relied too heavily on race when drawing the lines. The court paid particular attention to the former 12th District.
The case marks the fifth time that the district has come before the court since it was originally drawn 25 years ago. It was long known for its snakelike shape that ran through parts of Greensboro and High Point all the way down to Mecklenburg County.
The 12th was ground zero in the court's argument that the boundaries were racially gerrymandered. The GOP map had 35,000 more voting-age black residents and 50,000 fewer white ones.
The result? The district became packed with black voters while diminishing their voices in surrounding districts.
Jane Pinsky is director of the nonpartisan group End Gerrymandering Now. She says that the court's decision could add some momentum to the call for an independent redistricting commission.
“This is not an easy problem to solve but we need to solve it,” she says. “We need to stop wasting money on lawsuits, we need to stop moving people's voting districts around. We really need to move forward on it, and I think this will encourage people to do that.”
New maps were drawn last year in the wake of the lower court's decision. That took the 12th district completely out of the Triad.