The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 20, 2022
Today’s Links
Articles & Resources:
The Charlotte Post/AP – NC justices: State Senate map must be drawn again
Jurist/University of Pittsburgh – North Carolina Supreme Court strikes down gerrymandered district maps
Washington Post – N.C. court strikes down voter ID law as intentional racial discrimination
North Carolina Supreme Court Decision – Harper v. Hall Decision
North Carolina Supreme Court Decision – Holmes v. Moore
Groups Taking Action:
Common Cause NC, League of Conservation Voters NC, Southern Coalition for Social Justice
Today’s Script: (Variations occur with audio due to editing for time)
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.
The recent North Carolina U.S. Supreme Court case, Moore vs. Harper, isn’t the only case making news from the Tar Heel state this month. Friday, two other cases in the North Carolina Supreme Court were decided on gerrymandering and the freedom to vote.
Harper vs. Hall is also about redistricting, this time a state senate map used in the 2022 election, which the North Carolina Supreme Court struck down on December 16th. The court said the Republican-dominated legislature violated the state constitution’s Free Elections, Equal Protection, and Freedom of Speech and Assembly clauses. The legislature argued the map was “race-blind” but the court’s ruling said, “The provisions enacted … were formulated with an impermissible intent to discriminate against African American voters in violation of the North Carolina Constitution.” The maps will need to be redrawn, but they’ve already added to a significant Republican lock on the North Carolina Senate.
Also decided Friday was Holmes v. Moore, which struck down a voter ID law which accepts only a few types of ID. The court also deemed this as targeting Black voters, but the Washington Post reports that the Republican legislature will likely pass another bill after the North Carolina Supreme Court shifts from a liberal-leaning court to a conservative one next year.
Links to articles and groups taking action at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl.