Redistricting mid-decade is banned in North Carolina. Republicans are planning to do it anyway

At a Wednesday press conference where North Carolina state Rep. Tricia Cotham made her previously reported switch from the Democratic Party to the GOP official, Republican state House Speaker Tim Moore made some news of his own when he said his party expects to redistrict North Carolina's maps for Congress, the state Senate, and—most notably—the state House. While observers had long expected Republicans to revisit the first two maps, Moore's comments reveal that the GOP is in fact planning a much broader redraw than is allowed under state law.

In December, the state Supreme Court ruled that partisan gerrymandering violated the state constitution and struck down the congressional and state Senate maps that Republicans enacted last year, ordering they be redrawn for 2024. However, in that same decision, the court rejected the plaintiffs' challenge of the GOP's state House map. Because North Carolina's constitution prohibits mid-decade redistricting of legislative districts barring a court order, the justices determined that the state House map was "established" and therefore binding for the rest of the decade.

That decision, however, was issued by the high court's previous Democratic majority; a month earlier, Republicans had flipped control of the court but did not actually assume power until January. Once they did, though, the new GOP majority accepted GOP lawmakers' request to rehear the case, an unprecedented move that led dissenting Democratic justices to brand it a "display of raw partisanship." The court held oral arguments last month and could issue a new decision at any time.