North Carolina Brings Gerrymandering Questions to State Court

North Carolina began a trial Monday to determine whether the election maps in the state have been illegally gerrymandered to favor a particular party. The trial comes just a few weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal courts should not decide cases about partisan gerrymandering. This case, which is in state court, centers on the argument that the maps violate the state constitution. The case has been brought by the state Democratic Party, which, despite winning 50% of the vote during the 2018 midterms, received only 23% of the Congressional seats. They are contending that the legislative maps were drawn to maximize the power of Republicans in both state and federal seats, and they have some history backing them up—in 2011, legislative maps drawn by Republicans in the state were struck down for unconstitutional racial motivations. Republicans have said that the current case is without merit, however. "The maps are drawn under very strict criteria that were established by the [state] courts years ago. I don't believe that the [courts] are anxious to upset those. So I am hopeful that the three-judge panel will do away with this frivolous lawsuit," said Republican state Rep. David Lewis, a defendant in the case. But Democrats may be able to prove racial bias again, given that the three judges in the case on Friday approved the use of documents from Tom Hofeller, a Republican strategist who drew North Carolina’s maps before he died. Hofeller’s files have also been brought to two other prominent cases, involving the citizenship question on the Census and the Texas state legislative districts. Regarding the latter, Hofeller wrote that such maps “would be advantageous to Republicans and non-Hispanic whites,” and suggested diluting the political power of the state’s Hispanic voters. Democrats say that Hofeller’s files show he illegally used racial data to form the North Carolina maps as well. "We have forever had a flawed process that pre-ordains so many of our Congressional and legislative elections to the party. I believe what's at stake is the beginning of the end of that,” said Bob Phillips of Common Cause North Carolina, whose group filed the lawsuit. If Republicans lose in court, they would likely be forced to redraw the electoral maps in a way more favorable to Democrats before the 2020 elections. The judges will hear testimony for the next two weeks. [Associated Press; Raleigh News & Observer; NPR]

NATHAN BEDFORD FORREST DAY | Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee faced backlash over the weekend for declaring Nathan Bedford Forrest Day to honor the late Confederate general, slave trader, and KKK leader. Lee, a Republican, was following state law, according to his spokesperson, Laine Arnold. “Tennessee governors are required by statute to issue a series of proclamations each year, including Nathan Bedford Forrest Day. The proclamation that was issued complies with this obligation and is in keeping with prior years," Arnold said. But the move was criticized by some Democrats in the state House. "This a reminder of the painful and hurtful of the crimes that were committed against black people. I plan on working with legislators to correct this issue; If the governor is sincere about really being the governor for all Tennesseans and not some Tennesseans then he would get behind me, and do the right thing," Rep. Vincent Dixie said. Dixie was joined by Nashville Mayor David Briley, a Democrat, who similarly called on the governor to change the law. “Nathan Bedford Forrest was a slave owner and a racist, and no law should force us to honor him,” Briley said. Lee also faced backlash from his own party, most notably Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who tweeted about the issue. “This is WRONG...Tennessee should not have an official day...honoring [Nathan Bedford Forest]. Change the law,” Cruz said. [NPR; News Channel 5] 

CALIFORNIA BALLOT | Lawmakers in California passed a bill last week that would ban from the 2020 primary ballot anyone who does not release five years federal tax returns to the public. The measure is aimed at President Trump, who has refused to release those documents. "It was disappointing for a lot of people not to be able to have confidence that a major presidential candidate, and ultimately the president, didn't have financial conflicts of interest. I think it's time to require what everyone already thought was required," said state Sen. Scott Wiener, who authored the bill. Gov. Gavin Newsom has two weeks to decide if he will sign the bill into law; on the campaign trail, he was supportive of such a measure, although the current bill is more expansive in that it will also apply to gubernatorial candidates in the state. "I was solicitous of amending it to include the governor. So, that's maybe suggestive of an inclination. But I haven't made the determination," Newsom said last Friday. The Trump campaign said that the move was unconstitutional. "The Constitution is clear on the qualifications for someone to serve as president and states cannot add additional requirements on their own," said campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh. But state Sen. Mike McGuire, the co-author of the measure, said he isn’t worried about court challenges. "It's an easy soundbite to say it's unconstitutional. But this is bill is based off of data and fact, not soundbites. We believe that we will withstand any constitutional tests. And, candidly, I say bring it on," McGuire said. [CBS News; San Francisco Chronicle]

NEW YORK BLACKOUT | A blackout in Manhattan this weekend left 70,000 people without electricity, and prompted New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to criticize Mayor Bill de Blasio, who was campaigning for president in Iowa when the blackout occurred. “I can count the number of times I leave the state basically on my fingers. Mayors are important. And situations like this come up...you have to be on-site. I think it’s important to be in a place where you can always respond,” Cuomo said. De Blasio responded to the crisis on Twitter. "With the power back on, I’ve directed City agencies to investigate this evening’s blackout. They’ll work with ConEd to get to the bottom of what happened tonight and prevent another widespread outage like this,” he tweeted. ConEd representatives said that they are fully cooperating. “Con Edison sincerely regrets the power disruption to our customers on the west side of Manhattan last night and will be conducting a diligent and vigorous investigation to determine the root cause of the incident,” the company said. The last city-wide blackout happened in 2003, but a blackout that took over the entirety of Queens occurred more recently, in 2006. [ABC News; Fox News; CNBC]

HURRICANE BARRY UPDATE | Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant is asking the federal government to install long-awaited pumps to drain flood water in the Mississippi River Delta Basin, where some homes have been underwater for four months even before the tropical storm known as Barry blew through Louisiana and Mississippi over the weekend. Additional rainfall from Barry has further exacerbated the wet conditions there. "There is something somebody can do, but it's in Washington, D.C. We should have had pumps installed on the edge of the backwater. If we had had pumps like the rest of the country has, we could bring this some 5-7 feet down. Another 5 inches is going to make this even worse than it is...This is a historical, disastrous flood and this is just making it worse,” Bryant said. Around 540,000 acres in the south Delta have been under water since February. [Clarion Ledger; WJTV]