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NC's Legislative Maps Are Deemed Unconstitutional. So What Does This Mean for 2020?

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North Carolina's current state House district map.

On Tuesday, a three-judge panel in Raleigh ruled that North Carolina's legislative maps are unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders that favor Republicans. The court ordered state legislators to draw up new maps within two weeks, ahead of the primaries for the 2020 election. Republican Senate leader Phil Berger announced that he will not appeal the decision, despite many earlier pledges to do so from Republican lawmakers and staff.

Host Frank Stasio speaks with WUNC Capitol Bureau Chief Jeff Tiberii along with Jonathan Mattingly, an expert witness in the gerrymandering trial and a professor of mathematics and statistical science at Duke University. They review the consequences of the court’s determination for North Carolina and  other states with contested legislative borders based on potential partisan gerrymanders.

Laura Pellicer is a digital reporter with WUNC’s small but intrepid digital news team.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.