North Carolina Supreme Court overturns ruling that disallowed partisan gerrymandering

The North Carolina Supreme Court overturned a previous ruling that disallowed partisan gerrymandering, allowing Republicans in the state to redraw the state's congressional lines that heavily favored the GOP.

The decision throws into question the status of a case at the U.S. Supreme Court and whether that court's 6-3 Republican-appointed majority will rule on a contentious theory known as the "independent state legislature theory."

The North Carolina court held that there is "no judicially manageable standard by which to adjudicate partisan gerrymandering claims" and that courts "are not intended to meddle in policy matters," according to its 218-page decision.

"This case is not about partisan politics but rather about realigning the proper roles of the judicial and legislative branches. Today we begin to correct course, returning the judiciary to its designated lane," the majority opinion said, which was authored by North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby, a Republican.