"WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (Nov. 26, 2025) - A panel of federal judges will not block the North Carolina General Assembly's latest congressional map, which changes Congressional Districts 1 and 3 and disproportionately impacts Black voters, according to an opinion released Wednesday. In October, lawmakers took the unprecedented step of redrawing the two congressional districts to influence the 2026 midterms - marking the first known time they've done so without new Census data or a court order prompting them to redistrict."
"They claimed this amounted to First Amendment retaliation against those voters - particularly Black voters in northeastern North Carolina - for their protected political expression. The Plaintiffs also argued that legislators' remarks about wanting to defeat a "sue-until-blue scheme" revealed retaliation for the earlier lawsuit challenging the 2023 districts, which had been brought by the NAACP North Carolina State Conference, Common Cause, and several affected voters."
A panel of federal judges denied a preliminary injunction, allowing North Carolina's newly redrawn congressional map that changes Congressional Districts 1 and 3 and disproportionately impacts Black voters to remain in effect. Lawmakers redrew the two districts in October to influence the 2026 midterms, the first known redistricting done without new Census data or a court order. The opinion denying the injunction was signed by Judges Allison J. Rushing, Richard E. Myers II, and Thomas D. Schroeder. Individual voters and pro-democracy groups challenged the redraw, arguing it burdened voters based on past voting history and amounted to First Amendment retaliation. Plaintiffs pointed to legislators' remarks about a "sue-until-blue scheme" and said the new lines interfere with a pending challenge to District 1, while Common Cause described the map as intentionally retaliatory and highly gerrymandered.
Read at SCSJ
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