Is a minority of minorities enough?

Is 40 percent enough to give minority voters a voice? 

That was the question before the state Supreme Court in Pender County vs. Bartlett.

In drawing House District 18, the state legislature decided that a district with a significant population of black voters could still fall under the Voting Rights Act.

That 1965 law, aimed at correcting past discrimination, has long allowed for states to draw unusually shaped legislative districts in order to create a majority of black voters.

In an amicus brief, the UNC Center for Civil Rights argued that racism has ebbed enough that minority voters don't need to be an absolute majority to have a voice.

But the state Supreme Court took a more restrictive view, arguing that gerrymandering is only acceptable to create an actual majority.

Anita Earls, director of advocacy for the Center for Civil Rights, said the decision could affect some rural counties with significant minority populations after the 2010 redistricting.