U.S. Rejects North Carolina Redistricting : Remapping: The ruling sends a clear message to other Southern states: Minority voting power must be maximized.

In a decision that could affect political redistricting from California to Florida, the Justice Department on Wednesday rejected new electoral maps for North Carolina on the grounds that they would not provide for enough congressional and state legislative seats for racial minorities.

The ruling represented the strongest indication yet that the Justice Department intends to take a tough line in enforcing the Voting Rights Act requirement that states maximize the number of districts in which minorities constitute a majority of the population.

“The signal is absolutely clear,” said Kathy Wilde, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which challenged the North Carolina plans before the Justice Department. “It means if you can draw (a minority district), you damn well better.”

In its decision Wednesday, the Justice Department said North Carolina’s proposed state legislative plan would dilute minority strength in several parts of the state. It threw out the proposed congressional plan--which added one majority black seat--for failing to add a second seat sought by minorities, in which blacks and American Indians would constitute a majority.

“It’s a great day for black people in North Carolina,” said Carolyn Coleman, a civil rights activist in Greensboro, N.C. “There will be an opportunity to elect blacks that we have not had before.”

Just how the ruling will affect the struggle over California’s redistricting remains to be seen. Earlier this week, attorneys for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund objected to the redistricting plans of a special judicial panel, saying they would not draw more districts that could elect Latinos.

Those objections may be given new force by Wednesday’s ruling, said Arturo Vargas, a MALDEF official. “The state has to heed this warning that not to maximize Latino districts is going to be a problem,” he said.

California’s legal situation, however, is not identical to North Carolina’s. The Justice Department rejected the North Carolina plans under its authority to “pre-clear” legislative maps in nine Southern states that have a history of racially polarized voting. California as a whole is not subject to that pre-clearance requirement.

But four heavily Latino counties within California--Monterey, Kings, Yuba and Merced--need pre-clearance for congressional and legislative seats. In Monterey, MALDEF is seeking an additional congressional district with a substantial Latino population; it is also seeking an additional Assembly seat that would include Kings County.

Reverberations from the Justice Department’s decision should be pronounced across the South, where several states are wrestling with the question confronted by North Carolina--whether to create one black-majority congressional district or two.

Generally, the Democrats who control the legislatures in Southern states have sought to restrain the number of new majority black seats because maximizing the number of minority seats often threatens white Democratic incumbents, who depend on minority voters for reelection.