That’s actually a district crafted to give minorities (in this case, blacks) representation in Congress. Because North Carolina has many mid-sized cities (in this district, Charlotte, Concord, Winston-Salem, and Greensboro) with considerable but not overwhelming black populations, the legislature had to combine predominantly black neighborhoods in several cities without including enough non-blacks to deny blacks a majority in the district.
At one time, this district also included black communities in Burlington, Durham, Raleigh, and Gastonia if I recall correctly, but Sandra Day O’Conner declared that monstrosity an unconstitutional gerrymander while simultaneously holding that a district without a black majority also constituted an unconstitutional gerrymander. Justice O’Conner, however, approved this particular configuration as meeting the Constitution, of which she represented the living, breathing embodiment on this issue.
The doctrine in question, taken from the Constitution, requires states to construct a minimum number of majority minority districts without considering their minority character in so constructing but rather using the political character and voting behavior of the communities in question as the primary factor. This doctrine does not allow for a result that does not include the minimum requisite number of majority minority districts in proportion to the minority population of the state in question.
The stupid Sandra O Connor gave Republicans the means to pack Democrats in minority-majority districts... that results in the election of few Democrats! The effin’ RINO didn’t see that one coming. As stands, the Supreme Court should have found the partisan gerrymander unconstitutional, period.
Actually, NC-12 is not a majority black district. NC-1 is.
Practically, that makes a difference, because NC-1 is probably impossible to dismantle.
North Carolina is a key state for the GOP since its the only state where we can do offensive redistricting. The Democrats put up a pretty egregious map in 2001, and now we have a chance to.
The problem is that North Carolina has a lot of Dem areas that aren’t compact. You have the Northeast areas (NC-1, VRAed), the Durham/Chapel Hill/Raleigh/Greensboro areas (NC-4 and NC-13 I think), the counties to the south along the SC border (Mcintyre’s district), and Charlotte.
And of course Heath Shuler.
The Dems had an 8-5 majority for this entire decade, mostly. I tried playing with a map to turn it 8-5 our way, but it ends up being really tough to get all that territory in.
It’s more likely they go 7-5-1, the 1 being Heath Shuler until he retires 20 years from now. But at least he’s not a complete moonbat.