RALEIGH WAKE CITIZENS v. BOARD OF ELECTIONS

Nos. 16-1270, 16-1271.

827 F.3d 333 (2016)

RALEIGH WAKE CITIZENS ASSOCIATION; Jannet B. Barnes; Beverley S. Clark; William B. Clifford; Brian Fitzsimmons; Greg Flynn; Dustin Matthew Ingalls; Amy T. Lee; Erwin Portman; Susan Portman; Jane Rogers; Barbara Vandenbergh; John G. Vandenbergh; Amygayle L. Womble; Perry Woods, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. WAKE COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS, Defendant-Appellee, and Chad Barefoot, in his official capacity as Senator and primary sponsor of SB 181; Phillip E. Berger, in his official capacity as President Pro Tempore of the North Carolina Senate; Tim Moore, in his official capacity as Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, Defendants. Calla Wright; Willie J. Bethel; Amy T. Lee; Amygayle L. Womble; John G. Vandenbergh; Barbara Vandenbergh; Ajamu G. Dillahunt; Elaine E. Dillahunt; Lucinda H. Mackethan; William B. Clifford; Ann Long Campbell; Greg Flynn; Beverley S. Clark; Concerned Citizens for African-American Children, d/b/a Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African-American Children; Raleigh Wake Citizens Association, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Wake County Board of Elections, Defendant-Appellee, and State of North Carolina, Defendant.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Decided: July 1, 2016.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

ARGUED: Anita Sue Earls , Allison Jean Riggs , Southern Coalition for Social Justice, Durham, North Carolina, for Appellants. Charles Foster Marshall, III , Brooks, Pierce, Mclendon, Humphrey & Leonard, L.L.P., Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: George E. Eppsteiner , Southern Coalition for Social Justice, Durham, North Carolina, for Appellants. Matthew B. Tynan , Jessica Thaller-Moran , Brooks, Pierce, Mclendon, Humphrey & Leonard, L.L.P., Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee.

Reversed and remanded in part and affirmed in part by published opinion. Judge Wynn wrote the majority opinion, in which Judge Gregory joined. Judge Motz wrote a dissenting opinion.


The right to vote is "fundamental," and once that right "is granted to the electorate, lines may not be drawn which are inconsistent with the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment." Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98, 104-05, 121 S.Ct. 525, 148 L.Ed.2d 388 (2000) (quotation...

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