Federal judges: N.C. legislative districts unconstitutional.

RALEIGH, N.C. — The map that has twice been used to elect the North Carolina General Assembly is unconstitutional because many of the districts are racially gerrymandered, a panel of federal judges ruled Thursday.

Elections can proceed this year, the judges said in their order, because postponing the election would cause “undue disruption.”

But the Legislature must redraw the districts in the next legislative session for use in 2018.

The judges concluded that “the overriding priority of the redistricting plan was to draw a predetermined, racebased number of districts.”

The defendants “have not shown that their use of race to draw any of these districts was narrowly tailored to further a compelling state interest,” the opinion said.

Of the 170 legislative districts, 28 are racially gerrymandered, judges ruled.

Thirty-one voters sued over the districts, saying the maps needlessly increased percentages of black voters in districts where voters were already electing candidates of their choice. The lawsuit said the Legislature in its 2011 redistricting adopted nine majority-black Senate districts where previously none were majority black, and 23 majority-black House districts where previously 10 were majority black. The result was bizarrely shaped districts that cross natural geographic boundaries and split precincts, with traditional principles in redistricting “plainly subjugated to race,” the complaint said.

After the Legislature approved the districts, the U.S. Department of Justice signed off on them in a process called “preclearance.”

If the Legislature must redraw districts before 2020, it could affect the balance of power in the General Assembly.