In one lawsuit, the North Carolina NAACP, Common Cause and several Black residents originally sued over redrawn state House and Senate maps and U.S. House districts. The other lawsuit filed by nearly 20 Black and Latino voters focused on the new congressional districts, four of which they argue are illegal racial gerrymanders.

North Carolina’s Republican-crafted electoral maps are headed to trial this week as opponents contend they illegally gerrymander the state’s Black voters, and other members of racial and ethnic minority groups, into districts meant to dilute their voting power.

Congressional and legislative districts drawn by Republicans that helped them retain majorities in Raleigh and Washington are in court, as federal lawsuits accuse mapmakers of illegally eroding