Elections, OPOV
Where the redistricting population variation is less than 10%, the plaintiff must show by a preponderance of the evidence that improper considerations predominate in the explanation.
Error to exclude expert statistical testimony. Although it is not compelled by precedent, it would serve to identify possible explanations for the mapping.
Plan violated state & federal OPOV given lack of testimony from legislatures, pretextual justifications for the shifts, and demonstration that traditional redistricting practices were not followed.
No abuse of discretion in trial court's holding that references to race in the legislative record did not establish improper racial motive.
Dissent -- if abusive partisanship is justicable, it has to be specifically proven, not suggested by statistics.
Raleigh Wake Citizens Assoc v. Wake County Board of Election
Since 2011. An occasional commonplacing of the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal.
Neither an authoritative statement of the law nor legal advice. Quick work.