Special panel to hear North Carolina redistricting case
AP reports:
A Franklin County judge ruled Monday that a new three-judge panel created by the General Assembly to hear legal challenges of legislative district lines is constitutional.The ruling by Superior Court Judge Robert Hobgood means the a three-judge panel in Wake County, appointed by state Supreme Court Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake Jr., will decide whether new maps approved in November are constitutional.
The ruling is the latest in the legal wrangling over state House and Senate districts that stretches back to 2001, when a group of Republican legislators successfully sued to block new district maps.
Hobgood upheld major portions of the jurisdiction provisions in the 2003 redistricting bill approved my lawmakers. He did throw out one part of the three-judge panel law, a portion which automatically appointed Wake County's chief resident Superior Court judge to the panel.