Raleigh, North Carolina – Federal judges on Thursday upheld several Republican-backed U.S. House districts in North Carolina Painted in 2023 Which helped the Republican Party gain additional seats the following year. They rejected accusations that the lines were illegally broken and black voters were mobilized to weaken their voting power.
The order by three justices — all nominated by GOP chairs — did not rule on changes made last month to the 1st Congressional District aimed at ousting the seat. Democratic Rep. Don Davis In 2026.
This change was completed at the request of President Donald Trump as part of an ongoing process National redistricting in the middle of the decade The battle is still under consideration by the committee. The justices heard arguments Wednesday in Winston-Salem but did not immediately decide whether to now block the use of the 1st District and the adjacent 3rd District for next year’s elections while more legal arguments are made. Nomination of candidates for the 2026 elections is scheduled to begin on December 1.
Many of the allegations made by the state NAACP, Common Cause and Electors cover the 2023 and 2025 changes, particularly claims of voter dilution and racial discrimination that violate the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act.
The 2023 map helped turn North Carolina’s 7-7 delegation into one in which Republicans won 10 of the 14 seats in 2024. Three Democrats chose not to seek re-election, saying it was essentially impossible to get re-elected under redistricting lines.
The ruling Thursday by 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Allison Rushing and District Judges Thomas Schroeder and Richard Myers rejected claims that Republican lawmakers drew lines in 2023 so skewed in favor of Republicans that many Black voters were unable to elect their preferred candidates.
“We conclude that the General Assembly did not violate the Constitution or the redistricting law in 2023,” they wrote in a 181-page order.
Judges A trial was held Several months ago, I heard testimony in two lawsuits challenging parts of redrawn maps in 2023. Thursday’s decision focused on five congressional districts: three in the Greensboro area and two in and around Charlotte, as well as three state Senate districts. The justices also upheld the Senate districts.
Prosecutors argued that Republicans divided and diluted the number of black voters concentrated in the Greensboro area within multiple U.S. House districts. Then the MP. Kathy Manning, a Democrat from Greensboro, decided not to run again last year because her district had shifted to the right. They also cited what they called a mobilization of black voting-age residents in a Charlotte-area congressional district, which in turn helped Republican Tim Moore win an adjacent district.
Lawyers for the Republican leaders argued that partisan — not racial — considerations legally helped decide the 2023 map. They noted that no information on the racial makeup of the districts was used in drawing the lines. A 2019 U.S. Supreme Court decision neutralized federal legal claims for future illegal partisan gerrymandering.
“The circumstances surrounding the enactment and composition of the plans and district configurations are consistent with the non-racial motives of the General Assembly, which included traditional gerrymandering standards, North Carolina state law, and partisan performance,” the justices’ order for GOP lawmakers said.
The ruling can be appealed to the US Supreme Court. Spokespeople for Republican legislative leaders did not immediately respond late Thursday to emailed requests for comment. A group of lawyers representing the state NAACP and others said it was disappointed in the ruling.
Still being debated are the changes to the 1st and 3rd Districts, which GOP lawmakers said are designed to create an 11-3 seat majority in 2026. Davis continues a line of Black representatives elected from the 1st District dating back more than 30 years. But he won his second term by less than two percentage points.
North Carolina is among several states where Trump has pushed for changes to its map mid-decade ahead of the 2026 election. This week, a federal court Texas has been banned from using a map designed by the Republican Party.