SC to use 1st congressional district map in 2024 while US Supreme Court mulls decision
A panel of three federal judges which previously ruled that coastal 1st Congressional District is unlawfully drawn, has now ruled the map will stay in place for the 2024 election.
The ruling comes as the U.S. Supreme Court has yet to rule whether the map is constitutional.
State lawmakers and the South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, who initially filed the case, asked the U.S. Supreme Court, which heard arguments in October, to rule before Jan. 1 of this year. But that date came and went.
The NAACP argued the district was racially gerrymandered. Lawmakers who drew the map contend they used partisan demographics to determine where to draw the lines.
However, because Black voters make up most of the Democratic voting base in the Palmetto State, the NAACP said the state’s congressional map unfairly diluted the Black vote by making the state’s 1st Congressional District more likely to vote Republican as opposed to being a swing-district.
Now candidate filing for the upcoming elections closes Monday, with primary elections scheduled for June, leaving no time for a congressional map to be redrawn.
The district is currently represented by U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-Isle of Palms.
