Brief Amicus of North Carolina Legislative Black Caucus in Dickson v. Rucho, 11-CVS-16940

Abstract

This amicus brief is offered on appeal of a state trial court's decision to uphold district maps drawn by the Republican majority in North Carolina's General Assembly in 2011. The underlying complaint in the lawsuit alleges that the state's plan violates the 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause's color blindness principles and ignores the state's constitutional directive that district lines keep county lines intact except when necessary. Under a gross misinterpretation of the Voting Rights Act, the challenged plan replaces a series of majority-white districts in which black-preferred candidates have successfully been elected with racial gerrymanders -- majority-black districts with bizarre shapes that are inexplicable without predominant attention to race. This amicus brief makes three arguments to show the error in the decision below: (1) the state's map drawers completely ignored existing federal voting rights law, by turning the doctrine on its head, (2) the evidentiary record of elections in North Carolina amply shows that legally significant racial polarization is the exception and not the norm, belying any basis for imposing a statewide race maximization plan, and (3) the strategy of maximizing black majority districts without need and contrary to the announced views of black citizens, illustrates an illegal intent to target black voters for the purpose of minimizing their political efficacy.