In the case of North Carolina v. Covington in 2017, the U.S Supreme Court ruled that North Carolina had engaged in unconstitutional racial gerrymandering. The court found that 28 state legislative districts were racially biased as they were drawn to weaken the political power of black voters and thus violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights to equal protection under law. However, while affirming this violation, the Supreme Court rejected a lower court's remedy which ordered special elections to be held in these districts. The justices argued that such an order did not properly consider whether it was warranted by legal or equitable considerations and sent back for further proceedings on this issue.

There was no formal dissenting opinion written for the case of North Carolina v. Covington, 2017. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld a lower court's ruling that twenty-eight of North Carolina's legislative districts were racially gerrymandered and violated the Constitution. However, they did not agree with the remedy proposed by the lower court to hold special elections and sent that part back down for further consideration.