Case: Moore v. Harper (formerly Harper v. Hall)

This is a case about partisan gerrymandering in North Carolina during the 2016, 2020, and 2022 elections. 

On September 27, 2019, a group of plaintiffs including individual North Carolinian voters and Common Cause filed a lawsuit against the North Carolina State Board of Elections in the Wake County Superior Court. The case was assigned to Judge Paul C. Ridgeway. The plaintiffs challenged the state's 2016 congressional redistricting plan (hereinafter, the “Plan”), alleging it was an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander favoring Republicans. They also alleged that it violated the North Carolina Constitution’s Free Elections Clause, Equal Protection Clause, and Freedom of Speech and Assembly Clauses. 

The plaintiffs sought to block the Plan’s use in the 2020 elections and asked for a new, lawful redistricting plan. The plaintiffs also asked the court to stop the defendants from intentionally diluting the voting power of citizens, based on their political beliefs, using past election results. The case was remanded to Wake County Superior Court, where a preliminary injunction was granted on October 28, 2019, preventing the use of the 2016 plan. The Court found that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits and would suffer irreparable loss of their fundamental rights if the injunction was not granted. In response, the North Carolina General Assembly passed a new plan in November 2019.

On November 5, 2021, the plaintiffs filed a supplemental complaint to challenge the new plan, making similar claims of partisan gerrymandering. In December 2021, the Wake County Superior Court denied the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction. On December 3, 2021, the trial court consolidated this with another case, N.C. League of Conservation Voters, Inc. v. Hall.( No. 21-CVS-15426) The plaintiffs alleged that the General Assembly's congressional and legislative plans violated the North Carolina Constitution. They also alleged that the legislative plans resulted in the dilution of African-American voting strength by "cracking" and "packing" African-American voters into certain districts.

On December 8, 2021, the North Carolina Supreme Court held granted a preliminary injunction and temporarily stayed the candidate filing period for 2022 election until a final judgement was ordered.

On January 11, 2022, the Wake County Superior Court ruled in favor of the defendants, rejecting the plaintiffs' claims and upholding the new redistricting plans. The court relied on the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Common Cause v. Rucho(2019). In Common Cause, the Court held that partisan redistricting is a political question that is beyond the reach of federal courts. The Wake County Superior Court declared that partisan gerrymandering claims are non-justiciable political questions that do not violate the North Carolina Constitution. It also dismissed claims of racial gerrymandering and vote dilution, concluding that race was not the predominant factor in drawing the districts. The plaintiffs appealed the decision to the North Carolina Supreme Court on January 12, 2022.

On February 4, 2022, the North Carolina Supreme Court struck down the state's congressional and legislative redistricting plans as unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders, citing violations of the state constitution’s Free Elections, Equal Protection, and Freedom of Speech, and Assembly Clauses. The Court ordered the General Assembly to submit new maps by February 18, 2022, and the trial court to approve or adopt final maps by February 23, 2022. The trial court approved the legislative maps but rejected the congressional map because it did not meet the metrics laid out by the U.S. Supreme Court in Common Cause. The trial court adopted an interim congressional plan for the 2022 elections. This was later appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court by the defendants 

On February 25, 2022, members of the North Carolina Legislature (hereinafter, the “legislative defendants”), filed an emergency application to the US Supreme Court asking it to stay the implementation of the new maps. They argued that the North Carolina State Supreme Court did not have the ability to strike down the Congressional maps because the U.S. Constitution gave state legislatures exclusive power to regulate federal elections in their states. On March 7, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the application for an emergency stay and rejected the legislative defendants attempt to reinstate the maps. The defendants filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court on March 17, and the Court granted the petition on June 30, 2022. On December 7, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments.

On January 20, 2023, the legislative defendants requested the North Carolina Supreme Court to rehear the case, which was granted, and the case was reheard on March 14, 2023. The U.S. Supreme Court then ordered parties to file supplemental briefs addressing the effect of the rehearing on the Court’s jurisdiction. On April 28, 2023, the North Carolina Supreme Court reversed its 2022 opinion. At the time, the Court had a 5-2 Republican majority instead of the 4-3 Democratic majority that was in place at the time of the Court’s 2022 decision.

On June 27, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that state courts can review election-related laws within the limits of judicial review. Chief Justice John Roberts authored the 6-3 majority opinion of the Court stating that the North Carolina Supreme Court did not violate the Constitution when it set aside a congressional map adopted by the state’s legislature. The opinion rejected the independent state legislative theory which says the Elections Clause does not give state legislatures sole power over elections and rejected the independent state legislature theory (ISL). The ISL theory is based on language from Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution. In its opinion, the Court affirmed the judgment of the North Carolina Supreme Court.