A panel of three federal judges in North Carolina on Tuesday rejected the GOP’s redrawing of the state’s 13 congressional boundaries, ruling that the map is unconstitutionally skewered in favor of Republicans.
The judges, who noted the boundaries violate the Equal Protection Clause, the First Amendment, and Article I of the Constitution, ruled that the congressional district map drawn by legislative Republicans is illegally gerrymandered and must be quickly redrawn.
The decision marks the first time a federal court ruled against a congressional map on partisan gerrymandering claims, and the second time in three years an attempt to redraw the state boundaries have been thrown out.
North Carolina’s General Assembly has roughly three weeks to file a new plan with the court to ensure it will be in place by the 2018 midterms.