SCOTUS Strikes Down Racially-Gerrymandered Congressional Maps

The Takeaway | May 22, 2017

Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this interview. 

"A state may not use race as the predominant factor in drawing district lines unless it has a compelling reason," Justice Elena Kagan wrote in the majority opinion for a crucial Supreme Court ruling issued on Monday. 

The justices ruled 5-3 in the case of Cooper v. Harris, which held that two congressional districts in North Carolina were unconstitutionally drawn. According to the decision, Republican state legislators relied too heavily on race when they drew those districts.

Rick Hasen, a professor of law and political science at the University of California, Irvine, has the details on this case. 

This segment is hosted by Noel King.

WNYC Homepage - Top Stories

Manhattan's 42nd Street to be bus-only on World Cup match days

NYS Finally Has a Budget

A Russian Phrasebook for Surviving Authoritarianism

The Essential Sonny Rollins

YOU ARE ONLINE