A federal court in North Carolina ruled Tuesday that the state will have to quickly redraw its 13 congressional districts because the map was unconstitutionally partisan and was favoring Republican candidates ahead of midterm elections in 2018. The ruling by the District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina consisting of a three-judge panel rejected…

In February 2016, then N.C. Sen. Bob Rucho and Rep. David Lewis held the first public hearing of the newly formed Joint Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting. Earlier that month, a federal court had struck down North Carolina’s congressional map because of racial gerrymandering, and the committee was tasked with redrawing the districts. To that end,…