On Monday, a state court in North Carolina struck down the state’s congressional district map — one of the most aggressively gerrymandered in the country — ruling it illegal under the state constitution:

BREAKING: In major victory, Court throws out NC Congressional Map for 2020. pic.twitter.com/lmdDxEywp8

— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) October 28, 2019

This ruling is will almost certainly stand as final, as the right-wing justices on the federal Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that state courts are the final arbiters of political gerrymandering cases.

A separate three-judge panel on the same day accepted the newly-drawn legislative district maps for the North Carolina General Assembly, despite criticism from Democrats and voting rights groups that the Republicans drafting the maps simply drew a slightly less extreme gerrymander to replace the old one that was previously struck down. It is unclear whether that decision will be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

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