Judges Order State To Pay For Special Master In Gerrymandering Lawsuit

A three-judge panel has ordered the state government to pay just over $124,000 to the special master in a lawsuit against racial gerrymandering.

According to the News & Record, the judges concluded that in his advisory role, Stanford University law professor Nathaniel Persily provided insights that helped them address critical issues in the case.

The judges wrote that the special master's fees were reasonable, “considering the detailed work he did on a short schedule.”

Persily was hired by the judicial panel after they determined state legislators failed to correct unconstitutional gerrymandering intended to benefit Republican candidates.

There may be additional financial fallout from the litigation. Lawyers who represented the voters behind the lawsuit want an additional $1.5 million from state taxpayers for the three years of work that went into the case.