When was the last time a “this map is probably unconstitutional, but you have to use it for now” decision actually favored Democrats?
You have to go very far back, cause the "use it for now" part is recent. It's only under the current conservative court that
Purcell has been reinterpreted to be so encompassing in what it covers. You don't have to go that far back to 2016 when the Supreme Court instead ordered all normal election stuff delayed cause NC needed to remap.
The closest thing you can get is maps that were specifically drawn for a single cycle and everyone expected to change, it just took a while for the courts to get done with them.
And again, this probably isn't a pure Democrat benefit: with the SoS's weird/illegal attempt to offer the 2022 map as an alternative doa, 2 African American districts still seems the solution. Just neater. Graves is the real big loser and Johnson/Letlow the big winners. With proven results in 2025 to point at, its going to be even harder to go backwards in terms of access, and there will be time for the incumbents to move or retire if their seats change.
