U.S. Supreme Court Will Hear Appeal On Congressional Maps

The question of whether North Carolina's political maps are racially gerrymandered will be considered by the U.S. Supreme Court, the latest step in a long journey through the courts.

This is something that's dogged Republican lawmakers since the boundaries were drawn in 2011. That was when Republicans took over the state legislature. Critics have argued the maps put too many black voters into too few districts. They say that leads to weaker minority representation in the rest of the state.

It's not the first time the Supreme Court will consider the state's maps. Last year, the court gave the N.C. Supreme Court direction on how they should define race when considering whether the maps are unfair to black voters. The state court held a hearing last summer, and decided again, that yes, they were going to keep the maps in place.

Then two months later, a federal court said nope. It found two minority districts were racially gerrymandered.

That forced the state to redraw the lines, and the state appealed that decision.

The case has been added to the Supreme Court's calendar for this fall.