The first lawsuit challenging North Carolina’s new political districts as unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering was filed Friday by a group affiliated with former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
State legislators passed the maps into law on Thursday. All three new maps — for North Carolina’s 14 seats in the U.S. House, 50 seats in the N.C. Senate and 120 seats in the N.C. House — passed along partisan lines with Republicans in support and Democrats opposed.
The lawsuit is framed as a continuation of sorts of the successful 2019 partisan gerrymandering lawsuit, which forced GOP lawmakers to draw new lines for the 2020 elections. This new lawsuit is supported by the National Redistricting Foundation, an affiliate of Holder’s National Democratic Redistricting Committee. The 2019 challenge also was backed by Holder’s organization.