http://66.225.205.104/JR20111102.mp3
North Carolina Democrats and civil rights activists are scrambling to prepare a legal challenge to new voting district maps prepared by state Republicans. The U.S. Department of Justice yesterday gave the redistricting plan preliminary approval. Redrawing voter districts is a supremely political process. The party in control of the state legislature holds the pen. In North Carolina, that's the Republicans. And then whoever controls the White House has considerable veto power. Given that equation, Catawba College political science professor Michael Bitzer says the state's new maps seemed destined for trouble. "Yeah, I think it's caught everybody by surprise that the Obama Department of Justice has not challenged it," says Bitzer. North Carolina Republicans say the Obama Justice Department's stamp of approval confirms the maps are fair and legal. Bitzer says the maps also virtually guarantee Republicans keep control of the state legislature and make it tough for several Democratic congressmen including Larry Kissell to keep their seats. Tailoring districts for political gain like that is completely legal. Racial bias, on the other hand, is not. That's where state Democrats and activists like Bob Hall of Democracy North Carolina plan to focus their legal challenge. "It does appear to be a process of segregation where districts are 'bleached' - turned whiter and black voters moved out and into other districts turned blacker," says Hall. The Department of Justice only reviewed district maps for 40 of the state's 100 counties. A coalition that includes Democracy North Carolina and the NAACP of North Carolina hopes a state court will block the maps based on a detailed review of all the new district boundaries. The lawsuit may come as early as Friday.