''Easley v. Cromartie'', 532 U.S. 234 (2001), is an appeal of the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

case ''

Hunt v. Cromartie ''Hunt v. Cromartie'', 526 U.S. 541 (1999), was a United States Supreme Court case regarding North Carolina's 12th congressional district.. In an earlier case, ''Shaw v. Reno'', , the Supreme Court ruled that the 12th district of North Carolina ...

''. The case defendant is

Mike Easley Michael Francis Easley (born March 23, 1950) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the List of Governors of North Carolina, 72nd governor of North Carolina from 2001 to 2009. He is the first governor of North Carolina to have been ...

, who became North Carolina governor following

Jim Hunt James Baxter Hunt Jr. (born May 16, 1937) is an American politician and retired attorney who was the List of governors of North Carolina, 69th and 71st governor of North Carolina (1977–1985, and 1993–2001). He is the longest-serving governo ...

. The court's ruling on April 18, 2001, stated that redistricting for political reasons did not violate Federal

Civil Rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

Law banning race-based

gerrymandering Gerrymandering, ( , originally ) defined in the contexts of Representative democracy, representative electoral systems, is the political manipulation of Boundary delimitation, electoral district boundaries to advantage a Political party, pa ...

. (Case No. 99-1864). The issue facing this Supreme Court case was Constitutional validity of the

Congressional Districts Congressional districts, also known as electoral districts in other nations, are divisions of a larger administrative region that represent the population of a region in the larger congressional body. Countries with congressional districts includ ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. Specifically, the 12th district which cut through th
southwestern portion
of the state. The complaint of the plaintiff and North Carolina citizens was that the drawing of the district violated the

Equal Protection Clause The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "nor shall any State... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal pr ...

of the Constitution as the district was drawn primarily amongst racial considerations. The justification of the court stated that in North Carolina, race and politics are strongly correlated. The district may be majority African American, however, Southern Blacks have strong tendencies to vote Democrat. Voter registrations were used as evidence to prove to the court that the redistricting which drew the 12th district were arguably based on political reasons. In the majority opinion, Stephen G Breyer says "the party attacking the legislatively drawn boundaries must show at the least that the legislature could have achieved its legitimate political objectives in alternative ways that are comparably consistent with traditional districting principles", and in this case, the plaintiffs were not able to make this argument compelling. Justice

O'Connor O'Connor or O'Conor may refer to: People * O'Connor or O'Conor, an Irish clan * O'Connor Sligo, a royal dynasty ruling the northern part of the Kingdom of Connacht * O'Connor (surname), including a list of people with the surname Places * Burdett ...

previously sided with the district courts in '' Hunt v Cromartie,'' however, this instance ruled with the North Carolina legislature, acting as the all important swing vote to overturn the previous decision 5–4. The allegedly odd-shaped district was allowed to stand.

References

External links

* United States Supreme Court cases of the Rehnquist Court United States electoral redistricting case law 2001 in United States case law Congressional districts of North Carolina Legal history of North Carolina 2001 in North Carolina United States Supreme Court cases {{SCOTUS-Rehnquist-stub

See also

References

Further reading

External links