The countdown continues, and followers of redistricting politics are sure to recognize the third least compact U.S. House district in the count: North Carolina’s Twelfth Congressional District. From its re-establishment following the 1990 Census and reapportionment, the district’s boundaries have been the subject of frequent litigation. The legal wrangling ultimately resulted in a ruling in favor of the plan’s legality because it was a partisan—rather than racial—gerrymander, once again illustrating the perverse logic that governs gerrymandering.
North Carolina's 12th Congressional District: The 3rd least compact U.S. House District
In 1996 the Supreme Court ruled that the boundaries of the district (different than those shown here) were unconstitutional because race had been a predominant factor in their formation, violating the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Over the next 5 years the proposed district boundaries underwent a series of changes and court challenges, and in 2001 the Supreme Court upheld the district boundaries as constitutional, finding that political party affiliation, rather than race, had been the predominant factor in the district drawing process. By that time, of course, the 2000 Census had already been completed and the cycle would begin again.
Similar to IL-04, the case of NC-12 exemplifies that tangled considerations that are at stake when devising a districting plan. States that are subject to the preclearance section of the Voting Rights Act have often walked a fine line with respect to ensuring that racial minorities are furnished with an opportunity for elected representation without verging into race-based gerrymandering. From the perspective of political parties, Republicans and largely Democratic African-American voters often find their interests to be strangely aligned through the packing of minority voters into a single district. White Democratic candidates, meanwhile, can benefit from the breakup of such districts, which can boost their chances of election through the dispersion of African-American Democrats into neighboring districts.
