Carolina Journal Radio No. 865: Redistricting fights resolved for 2020 elections

A three-judge state Superior Court panel has accepted North Carolina’s redrawn congressional election map. This completes the state’s most redistricting fight and sets the stage for 2020 elections. Rick Henderson, Carolina Journal editor-in-chief, analyzes the impact of court fights that forced Republican legislative leaders to redraw legislative and congressional election maps for the last election preceding a new national census. The U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment has come into conflict in recent years with state and local anti-discrimination laws. Gregory Wallace, Campbell University law professor, assesses how this conflict has played out in recent legal disputes. As the three-judge redistricting panel wrapped up its review of the new congressional map, Wake County Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway offered his assessment of recent changes in N.C. redistricting. He also spoke for his colleagues about their preferences for the future of state electoral mapmaking. A recent case involving N.C. state government and the famous pirate Blackbeard recently made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The dispute focuses on the rights to video and images from the Queen Anne’s Revenge, the pirate’s shipwrecked flagship. You’ll hear highlights from oral arguments. Winston-Salem surgeon Dr. Gajendra Singh recently won the first round in his courtroom fight challenging North Carolina’s certificate-of-need restrictions. A judge rejected state efforts to dismiss Singh’s case. Singh challenges the CON law that blocks him from buying an MRI machine to help serve his patients. Jon Guze, John Locke Foundation director of legal studies, discusses the significance of Singh’s courtroom victory.