RALEIGH, N.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday delayed a lower-court order that would have forced North Carolina Republican lawmakers to redraw the state’s congressional districts by next week because of excessive partisan bias in current lines. The court has never declared that the inherently political process of redistricting can be too partisan. The request was considered by the entire court, and Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor would have denied the request for the delay, according to the order. “We are grateful that a bipartisan U.S. Supreme Court has overwhelmingly halted the lower court’s 11th-hour attempt to intervene in election outcomes” and restored certainty to voters about their districts, they said. The case now could be affected by decisions involving the other states during a Supreme Court term in which redistricting already figures prominently.

Source: National Post January 19, 2018 15:11 UTC