<!-- wp:html --><p>Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/gerrymandering-is-unfair-and-the-supreme-court-ignored-the-math-that-proves-it">North Carolina Supreme Court</a>’s decision to <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/supreme-court-oral-arguments-on-moore-v-harper-may-see-democracy-on-the-line">rehear a case on gerrymandering</a>—that it just decided last year—is a canary-in-the-coal mine signal of just how emboldened judges now feel about <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-supreme-court-put-politics-above-law-and-surrendered-its-legitimacy">blatantly politicizing their judicial decisions</a>.</p>
<p>In February 2022, the state’s high court struck down Republican-drawn congressional and legislative maps as violations of the North Carolina Constitution in the case of <em>Harper v. Hall</em>. The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/04/us/north-carolina-redistricting-gerrymander-unconstitutional.html">court reasoned</a> that the GOP plan violated the North Carolina Constitution’s equal protection, free speech, and freedom of assembly clauses by likely giving 10 of the 14 House of Representative seats to Republicans, even though <a href="http://r-they-can-win-in-nc-this-time-they-mean-it/">voters divide about 50-50 Democrat versus Republican in the state overall</a>.</p>
<p>But less than a year later, the court decided to rehear the case, which it did on March 14, and the same court now appears <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/14/north-carolina-supreme-court-gerrymandering-00087066">poised to overrule</a> its own barely 1-year old precedent. Well, almost the same court.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/north-carolinas-supreme-court-is-poised-to-hand-power-to-republicans">Read more at The Daily Beast.</a></p><!-- /wp:html -->
Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast
In February 2022, the state’s high court struck down Republican-drawn congressional and legislative maps as violations of the North Carolina Constitution in the case of Harper v. Hall. The court reasoned that the GOP plan violated the North Carolina Constitution’s equal protection, free speech, and freedom of assembly clauses by likely giving 10 of the 14 House of Representative seats to Republicans, even though voters divide about 50-50 Democrat versus Republican in the state overall.
But less than a year later, the court decided to rehear the case, which it did on March 14, and the same court now appears poised to overrule its own barely 1-year old precedent. Well, almost the same court.
