Court ruling could disrupt North Carolina midterms

Federal appellate judges ruled Monday that the North Carolina congressional districts map unconstitutionally favors Republicans. The ruling could throw into chaos the state’s upcoming midterm elections, for which primaries have already been held and candidates are already campaigning. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in January that the districts were overly partisan, but the Supreme Court stayed the ruling pending the results of similar cases in other states. In June, the Supreme Court sent those cases back to the states, and the 4th Circuit is just now reaffirming its January decision. The parties in the case did not expect the outcome to affect this year’s elections, but the court said that might happen. The judges asked lawyers in the case to weigh in by Friday on what should happen next.