RALEIGH, N.C. (NCN News) – The recent Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act has led two North Carolina black voters to drop a lawsuit over the drawing of State Senate district lines.
Democratic Rep. Rodney Pierce of Halifax County and Moses Matthews filed a dismissal request with the U.S. Fourth Circuit of Appeals on Monday (May 11).
The lawsuit argues that two State Senate violate the Voting Rights Act by diluting groups of Black voters between those districts and “unlawfully deprives Black voters of the opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.”
In a statement to media outlets, Pierce wrote: “The Supreme Court effectively made the (Voting Rights Act) a meaningless law with no teeth. Because of that decision, there is no longer a path open to us to protect the voting rights of Black citizens in my part of the state, so we have dismissed the suit.”
The Supreme Court, Redistricting and The Voting Rights Act
The decision to drop the case comes after a key U.S. Supreme Court decision from the high court’s conservative majority.
The Supreme Court ruled that Louisiana relied too heavily on race when creating a second Black-majority House district as it attempted to comply with the Voting Rights Act. The ruling significantly altered a decades-old understanding of the law, giving Republicans in Louisiana and elsewhere grounds to try to eliminate majority-Black districts that have elected Democrats.
The ruling intensified an already fierce national redistricting battle ahead of a November midterm election that will determine control of the closely divided U.S. House.
Critics of the court decision say that is basically reverses decades of decisions promoting minority voting rights. Months before the ruling, North Carolina GOP lawmakers redrew congressional districts to make a district that has been primarily Democratic more competitive. Now, after the high court ruling many southern states are taking action to redraw districts, some even halting already scheduled primaries and early voting. It is the latest chapter of the ongoing battle over redrawing districts now, rather than once every ten years following a census.
At the urging of President Trump, the Texas legislature modified districts to have more Republican districts. California responded with a voter approved plan to add more Democratic districts. Virginia voters approved a plan to add more Democratic districts, but that change is being halted for now for possible constitutional violations related to timing and other factors.
The Associated Press contributed to this report