美国国家公共电台 NPR North Carolina Gerrymandering Trial Could Serve As Blueprint For Other States（在线收听）

NOEL KING, HOST:

The fight over partisan gerrymandering continues today when a trial starts in North Carolina. Less than a month ago, you'll remember, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal courts cannot decide these partisan redistricting cases. On the line now, Jeff Tiberii - he's the Capitol bureau chief of member station WUNC in Chapel Hill.

And Jeff, North Carolina is a complicated place. There have been several legal challenges to various political maps there. What's at issue in this case?

JEFF TIBERII, BYLINE: Yeah, this is one of the most litigated states in the country when it comes to redistricting. And that goes back decades - Republican rule now, but previously Democratic rule for a long time. And the Republicans here have repeatedly drawn maps that unsurprisingly favor the GOP, even though this is very much a 50-50 state politically in many respects. Overall, when we think about the midterms last year, Democratic candidates at the state level actually won more overall votes but fewer seats.

So this case follows a previous set of maps that were passed by Republicans coming out of the 2010 census that were rejected by the courts as a racial gerrymander. State lawmakers redrew in the legislative districts and established Republican majorities again. They contend, the Republicans, that they looked at a number of criteria when they did that process within the last couple of years, but the plaintiffs say it was primarily about party affiliation. Those plaintiffs are suing. They say that by having set up the political boundaries in this way, Republicans are violating the state constitution, specifically the right to a free and fair election.

Now if - and it is a significant if - Republicans win, that - or pardon me. If the plaintiffs win, that could put the North Carolina legislature in play next year during in the 2020 election, which is also significant because the next round of redistricting, of course, takes place in 2021.

KING: So Jeff, the Supreme Court says this is not the job of federal courts to resolve these disputes. Do you think this case in North Carolina could serve as a kind of blueprint for other states that want to revisit partisan gerrymandering in court?

TIBERII: It does seem like that is a distinct possibility. And we saw this in Pennsylvania last year, where the challenge went through state court. Ultimately, the state Supreme Court there struck down congressional maps. And what we've heard from experts is that state constitutions provide what they say is a little bit better of an opportunity to challenge redistricting - challenge gerrymanders on the partisan basis because oftentimes constitutions are a little more broad and robust when it comes to protecting voting rights when compared - as compared with the federal Constitution.

KING: All right. So what do we expect from this trial?

TIBERII: Expectation is that's going to last about two weeks. There will be fighting over admissibility of evidence and case law. Whatever the outcome is here, it's certain that it will be appealed to the state Supreme Court. At the state Supreme Court level, there are now six Democratic judges and one Republican justice. And I think the initial expectation is that there is a chance that these maps will be struck down because they've given the GOP such an advantage over the past few years. But at the same time, that said, everybody who I've spoken with has said, let's also be cautious. Let's tap the brakes a little bit here because nobody knows, at this point, how the judges are going to rule.

KING: Jeff Tiberii of member station WUNC in Chapel Hill. Thanks so much, Jeff.

TIBERII: You're welcome.