South Carolina can use its current congressional map for the fall election, a panel of federal judges ruled Thursday, finding the Supreme Court has taken too long to decide an appeal over a ruling that the map is likely unconstitutional.
Last year, the three-judge panel found the state’s congressional map likely was unconstitutional because it racially gerrymandered Black voters out of the state’s 1st District, currently held by Republican Rep. Nancy Mace.
State legislators appealed to the Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments in the fall. Both sides initially asked the justices for a quick decision in the case, so that a new map could be implemented before this year’s elections.
