The North Carolina NAACP blasted the U.S. Supreme Court today for its interpretation of the federal Voting Rights Act, saying the decision was a “direct blow” to the state’s efforts to heal the “racist wounds of the past.”

The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision issued Monday, found that the Voting Rights Act did not apply to legislative districts that are less than 50 percent minority. As a result, state lawmakers will have to re-fashion districts in the Wilmington area so that Pender County is not split among two districts.

Rev. William Barber, president of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, said the decision ignores the troubled history in that part of the state, reports Dan Kane.

In 1898, white supremacist mobs came to Wilmington, which was governed by a “Fusionist” coalition of black and white council members. The mobs drove out the elected leaders, burned down a black-owned newspaper and killed at least 14 blacks.

“Somebody’s really got to examine this from the perspective that people don’t really know the history,” Barber said. “They don’t know that Pender County was separated (from New Hanover County) to make it an all-white county.”

More after the jump.

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The N.C. Supreme Court ordered House District 18 be redrawn.

In Pender County vs. Bartlett, the majority ruled that the legislature was wrong to break up that county in order to give minorities in the area a larger voice in choosing state lawmakers.

The state can do so, however, in counties that were designated under the Voting Rights Act.

Under that 1965 law, 40 of North Carolina's 100 counties were designated as having discriminated against minority voters, based on their use of literacy tests and their rates of registered voters at the time the act was passed.

Pender County, in blue, is not covered by the law, but two neighboring counties are.

The N.C. Supreme Court ruled today that the legislature must redraw Rep. Thomas Wright's district after 2008.

In Pender County vs. Bartlett, the majority opinion reversed a lower court ruling and held that House District 18 and nearby districts were not properly drawn under the state constitution.

At issue is whether a county should have its own district, or whether legislators can split up counties to create a minority district and satisfy the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965.

In the opinion, Justice Robert Edmunds Jr. noted that the legislature is not scheduled to reconvene until next May and candidates are already planning campaigns, so he postponed the deadline:

To minimize disruption to the ongoing election cycle, the remedy explained above shall be stayed until after the 2008 election.

Chief Justice Sarah Parker and Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson dissented. Justice Robin Hudson did not participate in the decision.