The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that Republicans in North Carolina unlawfully took race into consideration when drawing congressional district boundaries, concentrating black voters in an improper bid to diminish their statewide political clout.
The justices upheld a lower court's February 2016 ruling that threw out two majority-black U.S. House of Representatives districts because Republican lawmakers improperly used race as a factor when redrawing the legislative map after the 2010 census.
The decision came in one of a number of lawsuits accusing Republicans of taking steps at the state level to disenfranchise black and other minority voters who tend to back Democratic candidates.
The justices found that the manner in which the North Carolina voting district boundaries were sketched violated the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law. The ruling may offer a roadmap for challenging similarly drawn districts nationwide.
Apparently this was such blatant racism that even Clarence Thomas voted to uphold the earlier ruling. I know, right?
Neil Gorsuch had not been seated yet so he did not participate.
This ruling is bad news for the Republicans who have determined that they can win local elections by segregating the state and keeping those nasty Democrats from getting folks elected who actually represent their politics.
I know, it gives me a case of the sads too.
Source http://ift.tt/2rkTJoP
