CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Both cases were decided by the Supreme Court in December.
It’s important to note last year the state Supreme court had a 4 to 3 Democratic majority, but the tables turned in the 2022 election, when Republicans gained a 5 to 2 majority.
One case the Democrat-led court struck down: a Republican-supported voter ID law the court found targeted Black voters. But with the rehearing, Republican lawyers want to reverse that decision.
The other case is a landmark redistricting case, where the court ruled GOP drawn electoral maps were politically gerrymandered and unfair, and is the subject of the US Supreme Court case, Moore v. Harper.
A new ruling from the state supreme court could affect the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Moore v. Harper.
Some Democrats are calling the rehearings a purely political move. Here’s House Minority Leader Robert Reives, who thinks the rehearings could undermine faith in the judicial system.
“The legal precedent, whether you agree with it or not, there is incredible value to a structure being in place that people can depend on whenever they go before the judiciary,” Reives says.
On the other hand, Mitch Kokai, a political analyst at the conservative John Locke foundation, says this has more to do with timing and how the Supreme Court works.
“It’s not likely to set much of a precedent one way or another, because the same rules apply in every case and the rules didn’t change for these two rehearings,” Kokai says.
With Republicans in control, new decisions are extremely likely in both cases. One would mean voter ID requirements at the polls, and the other would give the legislature more power to draw maps benefiting the majority party.
One of the plaintiffs in the first redistricting case is Bob Phillips, executive director at voting rights non-profit Common Cause NC.
“We’re a mobile society, and young people particularly are going to be harmed,” Phillips says.
No matter the decision, North Carolina voters will see the impacts of both cases as early as the 2024 elections.