District Maps Sent Back to N.C. Legislators

Staff and Wire Reports

RALEIGH -- Newly drawn state legislative districts are unconstitutional, the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, authorizing a trial court to come up with alternate maps if the N.C. General Assembly can't do it in time for the November election.

The court said the district maps, approved by lawmakers last year, violate a provision of the state constitution that prohibits counties from being split.

But it said a remedy -- large, multi-member districts -- proposed by Republican legislators who challenged the plans would violate federal protections for minority voters and proportional representation.

Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake Jr., writing for the majority, said other provisions in the state constitution also would prohibit the solution proposed by the Republican plaintiffs.

"In our view, use of both single-member and multi-member districts within the same redistricting plan violates the equal protection clause of the state Constitution ... unless it is established that inclusion of multi-member districts advances a compelling state interest," Lake wrote.

The justices ordered a lower court to expedite a hearing on whether it will be feasible to give the General Assembly first crack at rewriting the maps. The ruling said the lawmakers should be given that chance if it won't disrupt the 2002 election cycle. If that isn't the case, the justices said, the trial court is authorized to seek and adopt temporary plans for this year.

The dispute had already forced an indefinite delay in the state primaries originally scheduled for May 7.

UNC political science Professor Thad Beyle said it is difficult to tell when the primaries will be held. "Maybe they ought to have the primaries on Election Day and have a runoff of the first of December between the top two people," he said.

Tuesday's ruling effectively could do away with multi-member legislative districts in the state. But it would also require lawmakers to draw single-member districts within county lines where practical.

The single-member districts could cross county lines only to protect minority voting strength in the 40 counties covered under the Voting Rights Act or to balance district population totals. The General Assembly could only draw multi-member districts if it can show a "compelling state interest" to the trial court.

"There is always going to be partisan politics involved in redistricting, but you are going to have certain criteria you have to follow," said Rep. Leo Daughtry, R-Johnston, House minority leader and a plaintiff.

The new House plan divided 70 of North Carolina's 100 counties to form 112 districts. The Senate map divided 51 counties to establish 46 districts.

Republican legislators claim Democrats ignored the constitutional provision to give themselves a boost in elections.

"The elections will no longer be rigged. We are going to have fair and competitive elections," said Senate Minority Leader Patrick Ballantine, R-New Hanover.

Beyle said the legislature will be under pressure to draft a new redistricting plan before it reconvenes May 28. One advantage the members of the legislature have is that they will not have other legislation to consider. "If they got called back into a special session now, that's what they'd be working on."