North Carolina v. Covington

Decision Date28 June 2018
Docket NumberNo. 17–1364.,17–1364.
Citation201 L.Ed.2d 993,138 S.Ct. 2548
Parties NORTH CAROLINA, et al., Appellants v. Sandra Little COVINGTON, et al.
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

PER CURIAM.

This appeal arises from a remedial redistricting order entered by the District Court in a racial gerrymandering case we have seen before. The case concerns the redistricting of state legislative districts by the North Carolina General Assembly in 2011, in response to the 2010 census. A group of plaintiff voters, appellees here, alleged that the General Assembly racially gerrymandered their districts when—in an ostensible effort to comply with the requirements of the Voting Rights Act of 1965—it drew 28 State Senate and State House of Representatives districts comprising majorities of black voters. The District Court granted judgment to the plaintiffs, and we summarily affirmed that judgment. See Covington v. North Carolina, 316 F.R.D. 117 (M.D.N.C.2016), summarily aff'd, 581 U.S. ––––, 137 S.Ct. 2211, 198 L.Ed.2d 655 (2017).

At the same time, however, we vacated the District Court's remedial order, which directed the General Assembly to adopt new districting maps, shortened by one year the terms of the legislators currently serving in the gerrymandered districts, called for special elections in those districts, and suspended two provisions of the North Carolina Constitution. See North Carolina v. Covington, 581 U.S. ––––, ––––, 137 S.Ct. 1624, 1625–1626, 198 L.Ed.2d 110 (2017) (per curiam ). The District Court ordered all of this, we noted, after undertaking only the "most cursory" review of the equitable balance involved in court-ordered special elections. Id., at ––––, 137 S.Ct., at 1626. Having found that the District Court's discretion " ‘was barely exercised,’ " we remanded the case for further remedial proceedings. Ibid. (quoting Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 555 U.S. 7, 27, 129 S.Ct. 365, 172 L.Ed.2d 249 (2008) ).

On remand, the District Court ordered the General Assembly to draw remedial maps for the State House and State Senate within a month, and to file those maps in the District Court for approval. The General Assembly complied after directing its map drawers to, among other things, make "[r]easonable efforts ... to avoid pairing incumbent members of the House [and] Senate" and not to use "[d]ata identifying the race of individuals or voters" in the drawing of the new districts. 283 F.Supp.3d 410, 417–418 (M.D.N.C.2018) (per curiam ). The plaintiffs filed objections to the new maps. They argued that four legislative districts—Senate Districts 21 and 28 and House Districts 21 and 57—still segregated voters on the basis of race. The plaintiffs also objected to the General Assembly's decision to redraw five State House districts situated in Wake and Mecklenburg Counties. They argued that those five districts "did not violate the [U.S.] Constitution, [and] did not abut a district violating the [U.S.] Constitution." Id., at 443. Thus, they contended, the revision of the borders of those districts constituted mid-decade redistricting in violation of the North Carolina Constitution. See Art. II, § 5(4); Granville County Commr's v. Ballard, 69 N.C. 18, 20–21 (1873).

After some consideration of these objections, the District Court appointed a Special Master to redraw the lines of the districts to which the plaintiffs objected, along with any nonadjacent districts to the extent "necessary" to comply with districting criteria specified by the District Court. App. to Juris. Statement 106–107. Those criteria included adherence to the "county groupings" used by the legislature in its remedial plan and to North Carolina's "Whole County Provision as interpreted by the North Carolina Supreme Court." Id., at 108. The District Court further instructed the Special Master to make "reasonable efforts to adhere to ... state policy objectives" by creating relatively compact districts and by avoiding split municipalities and precincts. Id., at 108–109. The District Court also permitted the Special Master to "adjust district lines to avoid pairing any incumbents who have not publicly announced their intention not to run in 2018" and to "consider data identifying the race of individuals or voters to the extent necessary to ensure that his plan cures the unconstitutional racial gerrymanders." Id., at 109–111.

Upon receipt of the Special Master's report, the District Court sustained the plaintiffs' objections and adopted the Special Master's recommended reconfiguration of the state legislative maps. See 283 F.Supp.3d, at 414. With respect to Senate Districts 21 and 28 and House Districts 21 and 57, the District Court found that those districts, as redrawn by the legislature, "retain[ed] the core shape" of districts that it had earlier found to be unconstitutional. Id., at 436 ; see id., at 439, 440, 441–442. The District Court noted, for instance, that the legislature's remedial plan for Senate District 21 copied the prior plan's "horseshoe-shaped section of the city of Fayetteville," which "include[d] Fayetteville's predominantly black [voting districts] and blocks and exclude[d] Fayetteville's predominantly white [voting districts] and blocks." Id., at 436. Although the defendants explained that the new district was designed to " ‘preserve the heart of Fayetteville,’ " the District Court found that they had "fail[ed] to provide any explanation or evidence as to why ‘preserving the heart of Fayetteville’ required the exclusion of numerous majority-white precincts in downtown Fayetteville from the remedial district." Ibid. (alterations omitted). Likewise, the District Court found that the legislature's remedial version of Senate District 28, though it "encompasse[d] only a portion of [the city of] Greensboro," nevertheless "encompasse[d] all of the majority black [voting districts] within Greensboro," while "exclud[ing] predominantly white sections of Greensboro," and "reach[ing] out of Greensboro's city limits to capture predominantly African–American areas in eastern Guilford County." Id., at 438. By choosing to preserve the shape of the district's " ‘anchor’ " in eastern Greensboro, the District Court found, the General Assembly had "ensured that the district would retain a high [black voting age population], thereby perpetuating the effects of the racial gerrymander." Id., at 438–439.

The District Court made similar findings with respect to the legislature's remedial House Districts 21 and 57. House District 21, it found, "(1) preserve [d] the core shape of ... the previously unconstitutional district, (2) include [d] all but one of the majority-black [voting districts] in the two counties through which it [ran], (3) divide[d] a municipality and precinct along racial lines, [and] (4) ha[d] an irregular shape that corresponde[d] to the racial make-up of the geographic area." Id., at 439–440. In light of this and other evidence, the District Court concluded that House District 21 "continue [d] to be a racial gerrymander." Id., at 440. House District 57, the District Court found, likewise inexplicably "divide[d] the city of Greensboro along racial lines," id., at 442, and otherwise preserved features of the previously invalidated 2011 maps. The District Court thus concluded that the General Assembly's remedial plans as to those districts were unconstitutional. Ibid.

The District Court then sustained the plaintiffs' remaining objection that several House districts in Wake and Mecklenburg Counties had been redrawn unnecessarily in violation of the North Carolina Constitution's prohibition on mid-decade redistricting. See id., at 443 (citing Art. II, § 5(4) ). The court reasoned that the prohibition "preclude[d] the General Assembly from engaging in mid-decade redistricting" except to the extent "required by federal law or a judicial order." 283 F.Supp.3d, at 443. It noted further that, "[w]hen a court must draw remedial districts itself, this means that a court may redraw only those districts necessary to remedy the constitutional violation," ibid. (citing Upham v. Seamon, 456 U.S. 37, 40–41, 102 S.Ct. 1518, 71 L.Ed.2d 725 (1982) (per curiam ) ), and that "Upham requires that a federal district court's remedial order not unnecessarily interfere with state redistricting choices," 283 F.Supp.3d, at 443. This remedial principle informed the District Court's conclusion that "the General Assembly [had] exceeded its authority under [the District Court's remedial] order by disregarding the mid-decade redistricting prohibition," since the legislature had failed to "put forward any evidence showing that revising any of the five Wake and Mecklenburg County House districts challenged by Plaintiffs was necessary to remedy the racially gerrymandered districts in those two counties." Id., at 444.

Finally, the District Court adopted the Special Master's recommended replacement plans for the districts to which the plaintiffs had objected. In adopting those recommendations, the District Court turned away the defendants' argument that they were built on "specific ... quota[s]" of black voters in each reconstituted district. Id., at 448–449. The District Court instead credited the Special Master's submission that his " ‘remedial districts were drawn not with any racial target in mind, but in order to maximize compactness, preserve precinct boundaries, and respect political subdivision lines,’ " and that the remedial map was the product of " ‘explicitly race-neutral criteria.’ " Id., at 449. The District Court directed the defendants to implement the Special Master's recommended district lines and to conduct elections accordingly.

The defendants applied to this Court for a stay of the District Court's order pending appeal. We granted a stay with respect to implementation of the Special Master's remedial districts in Wake and Mecklenburg Counties, but otherwise denied the application. See 583 U.S. ––––, 138 S.Ct. 974, 200 L.Ed.2d 216 (2018). The defendants timely...

To continue reading

Request your trial
20 cases
  • Singleton v. Merrill
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Northern District of Alabama
    • January 24, 2022
    ...Legislature ("the Legislature") should have the first opportunity to draw that plan. See, e.g., North Carolina v. Covington , ––– U.S. ––––, 138 S. Ct. 2548, 2554, 201 L.Ed.2d 993 (2018) ; White v. Weiser , 412 U.S. 783, 794–95, 93 S.Ct. 2348, 37 L.Ed.2d 335 (1973).The Legislature enjoys br......
  • Gonidakis v. LaRose
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio
    • April 20, 2022
    ...See, e.g. , Covington v. North Carolina , 283 F. Supp. 3d 410 (M.D.N.C. 2018), aff'd in part, rev'd in part , ––– U.S. ––––, 138 S. Ct. 2548, 201 L.Ed.2d 993 (2018) (panel adopted General Assembly plans of court-appointed special master, after state legislative plan was found to be racially......
  • Benisek v. Lamone
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Maryland
    • November 7, 2018
    ...(1993), and has approved remedial redistricting in cases of racial gerrymandering, see, e.g., North Carolina v. Covington , ––– U.S. ––––, 138 S.Ct. 2548, 2554, 201 L.Ed.2d 993 (2018) (per curiam). And in Davis v. Bandemer , 478 U.S. 109, 106 S.Ct. 2797, 92 L.Ed.2d 85 (1986), the Court reco......
  • Common Cause v. Rucho
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Middle District of North Carolina
    • August 27, 2018
    ...discriminatory purpose may often be inferred from the totality of the relevant facts." Id. at 242, 96 S.Ct. 2040 ; see also Covington , 138 S.Ct. at 2553 (affirming district court's finding, based on "circumstantial ... evidence concerning the shape and demographics of [the challenged] dist......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT