Gerrymandering in North Carolina has been an issue in successive elections. In the latest breaking news, a unanimous State Court decision in North Carolina has held State Legislative Districts as unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders under the State Constitution.

Election Law Blog has an article that looks at what it means and what comes next. The article provides a link to the 357-page ruling and argues that “given the state Supreme Court has a 6-1 Democratic majority (including now Justice Anita Earls), this ruling could well be upheld on appeal.”

According to the article:

This is a huge development that will put the Republican-led North Carolina General Assembly in a tough position. Because this is decided as a matter of state constitutional law, it would be very hard to find a federal issue to take this to the United States Supreme Court for reversal.

It might be possible to try to amend the state constitution to allow for partisan gerrymandering, but that too might be a tough sell.

And I expect plaintiffs could mount a similar effort against the state’s congressional redistricting plan, which the US Supreme Court upheld against federal constitutional challenge in the Rucho case.

Very, very big development indeed.

Read more here.