The Republican-drawn congressional districts in North Carolina turned out to be too racially driven for a Supreme Court dominated by conservatives — with Justice Clarence Thomas siding with the majority.

Who’d have thought it?

But the fact that it’s arguably a toss-up, in some judges’ reasoning, how much the Republicans in the state legislature used race or pure partisan advantage while doing their dirty work highlights how difficult it will be for Democrats to retake the majority in the House — Trumpian scandals and a proposed budget that hurts many in the GOP base notwithstanding.

In the South, a strong Republican bulwark, it’s simple but also pretty accurate to say that — after the 1960s civil rights legislation and a Richard Nixon-style Southern strategy couched in the language of “law and order” — African-Americans have overwhelmingly supported Democrats with white voters tending to favor Republicans.

That’s not the only reason, of course, for the split. Conservative values on faith, family, lifestyle, defense and more figure into the equation. But even when it comes to matters of faith, the values of black evangelical Christians lead them to mostly different electoral choices than their white counterparts.