State Sen. Todd Johnson (R-Monroe) had some strong words for a panel of North Carolina justices as well as the state's Democratic Party after the court approval of redistricting congressional lines.
Johnson argues that the North Carolina General Assembly followed a court order to the letter of its ruling as illustrated by the upholding of legislative maps, but he was not happy with the results.
"In my opinion, the courts overstepped their authority by ignoring the constitution and blurring the lines of the intention of separation of powers established by our founding fathers," Johnson said in an interview with Union News. "Courts acting in a legislative manner is a path to destruction of our republic."
North Carolina state Sen. Todd Johnson (R-Monroe)
| https://www.ncleg.gov/
Johnson says it should be left up to voters to decide if Republicans keep their positions in 2020 or are unseated by challengers, but that Democrats seem to want more control of the process.
"That is for the voters to decide," Johnson told the paper. "From what I have read, it will be difficult for Republicans to hold two of the seats they currently hold. This opinion is only held based on what I have read in the media, as no voter information was used to draw these maps. It is truly sad that Democrats can’t simply win at the ballot box. They have to stack the deck for their candidates to win."
Johnson condemns the Democrats' strategy of dragging the legislative-mapping process into courtrooms to gain key advantages as an unfortunate departure from the foundation upon which the American political system was built.
"'Sue till blue' is their only path to success since they can’t secure the three things required to win elections outside of their stacked maps – sustainable policies, strong candidates and good ideas," Johnson said.
A panel of three judges ruled on Dec. 2 that redrawn district maps will be used in the next election. The change means that Democrats will likely gain two House seats under the new configuration, The Chronicle reported.
“The new congressional map was drawn in full transparent view without partisan goals or data following extensive public input from North Carolinians to meet strict redistricting criteria identified by the courts as standards of fairness,” North Carolina state Reps. David Lewis (R-Dunn) and Destin Hall (R-Lenoir), co-chairs of the Joint Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting, said in a joint statement.
Alerts Sign-up