As maps fall, GOP tries to neutralize state supreme courts

Just days following the state Supreme Court’s approval of state Senate and House maps and the special expert drawn Congressional map, state Republicans are attempting to bring back their unconstitutional maps. 

In a last ditch effort, state Republicans asked the U.S. Supreme Court to restore their old map, which would give Republican candidates clear advantages in 10 of 14 congressional seats, and stop state courts from redrawing congressional maps.

• The appeal comes after a redistricting process that was riddled with partisan tactics North Carolina voters are all too familiar with – Republicans crafting racially and partisan gerrymandered maps and lackluster transparency.
  
• “In what is a disappointing, but not surprising, act by this legislative majority, Legislative Defendants are outrageously asking the United States Supreme Court to insert itself into state law in an unprecedented way,” Allison Riggs of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice said in a statement. “As recently as 2019, the Supreme Court said state courts are empowered to rely on state constitutions and state law to reign in partisan gerrymandering”.

State Republican lawmakers attempting to distort voting maps and skew elections towards their favor isn’t anything new. But their repeated efforts to undermine judges and our judicial system is alarming. 

The judiciary is a critical line of defense in protecting our rights – a check that keeps the other branches from abusing their powers.

It seems our Republican leaders have forgotten their place.