NC Supreme Court Rules on Voter ID Constitutional Amendment

Says racially gerrymandered legislature may not have had power to act

North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, seen here “gaveling in a session” in Raleigh, N.C., in April 2020, is the lead petitioner in Moore v Harper, which asks the U.S. Supreme Court to debate ‘independent state legislature theory.’ Gerry Broome/AP Photo

The Democrat-controlled Supreme Court of North Carolina ruled along partisan lines that enough electoral districts of the Republican-dominated state legislature were so racially gerrymandered that the lawmakers may have lacked the authority to move two state constitutional amendments forward.

The same court ruled earlier this year that the state electoral maps drawn by the North Carolina General Assembly were “unlawful partisan gerrymanders” that would have unfairly given Republicans an advantage in elections.