Federal Courts Won’t Hear North Carolina Gerrymandering Case

North Carolina legislators can’t remove to federal court a state suit under the state constitution challenging a redistricting plan that they say is gerrymandered in favor of Republicans, the Fourth Circuit said Thursday.

Common Cause, the North Carolina Democratic Party, and state voters sued the legislators in state court, alleging the scheme violated the North Carolina Constitution’s equal protection, free election, freedom of speech, and freedom of assembly clauses.

The legislators responded that some of the challenged districts were mandated by a federal court to correct civil rights violations, and that compliance with any new court order would violate that ...