The North Carolina Supreme Court on Friday decided to send a case back to a lower court to consider further to what extent state lawmakers who were voted into office as a result of unlawful voting maps should be able to initiate a process to amend the state's constitution. According to the majority opinion, lawmakers who won their seats through unconstitutional racial gerrymandering cannot then submit constitutional amendments that would permanently disadvantage the same groups discriminated against in the racial gerrymandering process. “The record is clear that votes of legislators from unconstitutionally gerrymandered districts could have been decisive,” the high court wrote in its opinion, referencing a pair of measures voters passed related to photo ID and income tax caps. :: WRAL.com | Zootzle
