A federal court in North Carolina on Tuesday rejected a request from state Republican lawmakers to delay its order striking down the state’s congressional voting map.
North Carolina GOP officials asked the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina last week to stay its Jan. 9 ruling while they appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
But the federal court denied their request Tuesday and ruled the lawmakers had “failed to meet their ‘heavy burden’ in seeking extraordinary relief of staying this Court’s order.”
A three-judge panel invalidated the congressional map drawn by the Republican-led state legislature in 2016 and said it constituted a “partisan” gerrymander. The federal judges ordered the North Carolina General Assembly to enact a remedial plan by the end of the month.
Should the state legislature fail to draft its plan, the judges said it would appoint a “special master” to assist with the drawing of a new map.
The state Republican lawmakers said they would appeal the lower court’s ruling to the Supreme Court, and on Friday, state officials asked the high court to stay the U.S. district court’s ruling pending their appeal.
The Supreme Court is already considering two cases involving political gerrymandering. The justices heard oral arguments in one case from Wisconsin in October, and will consider a challenge to Maryland’s congressional map.
