The Supreme Court struck down two congressional districts in North Carolina on Monday because they had been gerrymandered along racial lines, with Justice Clarence Thomas joining the court’s liberals to form the majority. The justices said North Carolina’s Republicans had packed additional black voters into the two already heavily African American districts, which in turn helped the GOP win more House seats in those voters’ previous districts. Justice Elena Kagan said it was clear that race played a crucial role in how the districts were drawn. The Constitution forbids a state “from separating its citizens into different voting districts on the basis of race,” she said. Thomas concurred in a separate opinion, saying that since the 1990s, he had taken the view that districts drawn along racial lines are unconstitutional.

Source: Los Angeles Times May 22, 2017 15:30 UTC