North Carolina Republicans don’t have to redraw maps by next week, Supreme Court rules

RALEIGH, N.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court has 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 justices announced their decision late Thursday after legal briefs were filed for and against the GOP legislators’ request for a delay. Their lawyers successfully argued that a three-judge panel’s ruling last week declaring the state congressional map an illegal partisan gerrymander should be put on hold while similar cases from Wisconsin and Maryland before the Supreme Court are settled.

Voter advocacy groups and Democratic voters who sued over the map — heavily weighted toward Republicans — argued no delay was necessary because it would be struck down however the justices rule in the other cases.