Opinion of the Court
Shortly after the new maps became law, several groups of plaintiffs—including the North Carolina League of Conservation Voters, Common Cause, and individual voters—sued in state court. The plaintiffs asserted that each map constituted an impermissible partisan gerrymander in violation of the North Carolina Constitution. Harper I, 380 N. C., at 329–330, 868 S. E. 2d, at 513–514.[1] At trial before a three-judge panel of the Wake County Superior Court, the plaintiffs presented expert testimony and other evidence to support their claims that North Carolina’s General Assembly drew state legislative and federal congressional maps to favor Republican candidates. Id., at 332, 868 S. E. 2d, at 515. The trial court agreed, finding that the General Assembly’s 2021 congressional districting map was “a partisan outlier intentionally and carefully designed to maximize Republican advantage in North Carolina’s Congressional delegation.” Id., at 345, 868 S. E. 2d, at 522 (internal quotation marks omitted). But the court denied relief, reasoning that the partisan gerrymandering claims “amounted to political questions that are nonjusticiable under the North Carolina Constitution.” Id., at 348, 868 S. E. 2d, at 524.
The North Carolina Supreme Court reversed, holding that the legislative defendants violated state law “beyond a reasonable doubt” by enacting maps that constituted partisan gerrymanders. Id., at 353, 868 S. E. 2d, at 528. It also rejected the trial court’s conclusion that partisan gerrymandering claims present a nonjusticiable political question. Ibid. The Court acknowledged our decision in Rucho v. Common Cause, which held “that partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts.” 588 U. S. ___, ___ (2019) (slip op., at 30);
- ↑ The plaintiffs also asserted that North Carolina’s Legislature discriminated on the basis of race and raised other claims under the North Carolina Constitution. Harper I, 380 N. C., at 350–352, 868 S. E. 2d, at 526–527. Those claims are not at issue today.
