[JURIST] A three-judge panel upheld [opinion, PDF] North Carolina’s newly drawn congressional districts on Thursday. The challenge was brought after the state’s General Assembly was ordered to redraw [JURIST report its congressional lines by the US Supreme Court, and the challengers argued that the new congressional lines were “a blatant, unapologetic partisan gerrymander.” Despite these claims, the three-judge panel decided to uphold the newly drawn lines, which have been acknowledged by at least one of the drafters to be political gerrymander, stating that “the Court’s hands appear to be tied.” In particular, the court stated “no judicially discernible and manageable standards for adjudicating political gerrymandering claims have emerged” and without standards they matter is nonjusticiable. While the court held that partisan considerations in a redistricting plan may go “too far,” it held that the standard for determining where that is the case has not yet been revealed and has not revealed itself here.

Voting rights remain a controversial legal issue in the US. In April the Supreme Court upheld [JURIST report] a redistricting decision in Arizona as not discriminatory. Earlier that same month a panel of federal judges rejected a motion [order, PDF] by Representative Corrine Brown [official profile] challenging the current congressional district boundaries in Florida [JURIST report]. In March the Supreme Court heard oral arguments [JURIST report] regarding an election district plan for Virginia’s Third Congressional District. This district was altered in 2012 in a manner that increased the already majority-African American population, and the district court found the plan unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment. In November the court heard oral arguments [JURIST report] in a challenge to the Three Judge Court Act, which requires the convening of a three-judge district court to decide certain important lawsuits such as those concerning voter redistricting. Last June the court ruled [JURIST report] that the Elections Clause of the US Constitution permits the state of Arizona to adopt a commission to draw congressional districts. In April of last year the court threw out [JURIST report] a North Carolina court ruling that upheld Republican-drawn electoral districts for state and congressional lawmakers.