Readers who are aware of the Republican Party dishonorable hijinks in North Carolina will be interested in the report from Mark Joseph Stern of Slate on their latest delaying tactics concerning the elimination of gerrymandering:
GOP lawmakers devised a rather startling theory: They alleged that the plaintiffs were attempting to force North Carolina to violate the Voting Rights Act, the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, and the 15th Amendment’s bar on race-based voter suppression. How, exactly, could an effort to remedy partisan gerrymandering wind up disenfranchising minorities? Republicans argued that if the current map were invalidated, either the North Carolina Supreme Court or the General Assembly would have to draw new districts. And, they insisted, neither could do so without trampling on the voting rights of racial minorities. The argument implies that both legislators and the justices are too racist to be trusted to redraw the maps in a way that wouldn’t violate the Constitution.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Louise W. Flanagan rightly tossed out this embarrassing Hail Mary, sending the case back to North Carolina court. Flanagan noted that she would explain her full reasoning in a later opinion, but it’s easy to see why she kicked out the case: It has no business in federal court, it is built upon a strange and offensive legal theory, and it is obviously just a delaying tactic—a bid to run down the clock so that new maps cannot be drawn before the 2020 election. Flanagan, a moderate conservative appointed by George W. Bush, had no desire to become complicit in the North Carolina GOP’s undemocratic machinations.
And that puts it back on track to end up in front of a Democrat-dominated state Supreme Court, with time to actually redraw the boundaries. Will North Carolina Republicans continue to squall about how redrawing the boundaries in any way but the one that keeps them in power?
And just how did North Carolina Republicans fare in the mid-terms? From Ballotpedia’s report on the NC Senate results:
Republicans maintained their majority in the North Carolina State Senate in the November 6, 2018, elections, winning 29 seats to Democrats‘ 21. Democrats, however, broke the Republican supermajority in the chamber by keeping them below 30 seats. All 50 Senate seats were up for election in 2018.
Heading into the elections, Republicans had a 34-15 majority. The seat previously held by Republican David Curtis was vacant. Democrats needed to win six seats to break Republicans’ three-fifths supermajority, the margin necessary to override gubernatorial vetoes.
Republicans maintained their majority in the North Carolina House of Representatives in the November 6, 2018, elections, winning 65 seats to Democrats‘ 55. Democrats, however, broke the Republican supermajority in the chamber by keeping them below 72 seats. All 120 House seats were up for election in 2018.
Heading into the elections, Republicans had a 75-45 majority. Democrats needed to win four seats to break Republicans’ three-fifths supermajority, the margin necessary to override gubernatorial vetoes.
Thus forcing the Republicans to reconsider their extremism, now that they are not the supreme political force in the State. The governor is held by Democrat Cooper, and the judiciary, to the extent that it is political, has a Supreme Court mostly containing judges elected under the Democratic banner.
The Republicans are far from being discredited to the extent that they must reform, but a step has been taken. Now there’s pressure on the Democrats to be wise in the governance they can exert.
And then there’s the corruption which potentially occurred in District 9, in which Republican Mark Harris had apparently beaten Democrat Dan McCready for a seat in the Federal House Of Representatives, but then a controversy arose concerning absentee ballots being illegally collected and discarded by a Republican operative, and the election board refused to certify the election result – unanimously. That corruption may spark more resentment towards the dominant Republicans, leaking away their support among the independents on which they depend.
An exciting, if frustrating, election result, if you’re a North Carolinian.
