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Wisconsin Partisan Gerrymandering Case Holds Major Implications for North Carolina

The Supreme Court justices heard oral arguments regarding gerrymandering in Wisconsin, a case which could have ramifications for NC.
Upstate NYer
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The Supreme Court justices heard oral arguments regarding gerrymandering in Wisconsin, a case which could have ramifications for NC.

A groundbreaking case over how voting maps are drawn is playing out in the Supreme Court.

Host Frank Stasio talks with WUNC poltical reporter Rusty Jacobs and Anita Earls, executive director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice about extreme partisan gerrymandering in North Carolina as well as other states around the country.According to a bipartisan voting rights group, the Republican party gerrymandered the Wisconsin Legislature to their political advantage. Supreme Court justices heard oral arguments in the case this Tuesday. Host Frank Stasio speaks with WUNC politics reporter Rusty Jacobs about how this case may have major ramifications for other states including North Carolina.

Stasio also speak with Anita Earls, executive director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, who attended the oral arguments. Earls is the attorney for the plaintiffs in a suit launched by the League of Women Voters and Common Cause that claims the Republican-controlled legislature used extreme partisan gerrymandering in building North Carolina’s 2016 congressional redistricting plan.

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Laura Pellicer is a producer with The State of Things (hyperlink), a show that explores North Carolina through conversation. Laura was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, a city she considers arrestingly beautiful, if not a little dysfunctional. She worked as a researcher for CBC Montreal and also contributed to their programming as an investigative journalist, social media reporter, and special projects planner. Her work has been nominated for two Canadian RTDNA Awards. Laura loves looking into how cities work, pursuing stories about indigenous rights, and finding fresh voices to share with listeners. Laura is enamored with her new home in North Carolina—notably the lush forests, and the waves where she plans on moonlighting as a mediocre surfer.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.