A panel of judges in North Carolina say a new congressional district map drawn by Republican state lawmakers will be used for the 2020 elections.
This new ruling comes after the same judges ordered the state's Republican-controlled legislature to throw out its previous congressional map back in October. The judges said that the districts in that map were drawn with excessive partisanship, favoring Republicans.
Monday's decision is a defeat for Democrats, who pointed out the new districts still gave the Republican party eight of the state's 13 congressional seats. But the judges ultimately decided there wasn't enough time to consider the boundaries any further.
One of the judges said, "Although one can certainly argue that the process was flawed or that the result is far from ideal, the net result is that the previously flawed 2016 congressional map has been replaced."
The court decision lets candidates immediately start filing for next year's elections. Candidate filing was put on hold while the judges reviewed the case. The North Carolina primary is scheduled for March 3.
