the state constitution’s equal population requirement must be read in the context of the geographic boundaries of counties, the state-recognized political subdivisions. In other words, the Whole County Provision, as recognized by this Court, requires that each State House and Senate District be confined to a single county or minimum grouping of contiguous counties. Stephenson I, 355 N.C. at 383-84, 562 S.E.2d at 397. In effect, North Carolina’s Whole County Provision, of which equal population is a component, establishes a framework to address the neutral redistricting requirement that “political subdivisions” be respected. Shaw v. Reno, 509 U.S. 630, 646-47, 113 S. Ct. 2816, 2826-27, 125 L. Ed. 2d 511, 528-29 (1993) (Shaw I); Stephenson I, 355 N.C. at 364, 371, 562 S.E.2d at 385, 389 (<HOLDING>). Our state constitution’s Whole County
holding that may is still controlling in north carolina in light of united states v pataneus 159 l ed 2d 667 124 s ct 2620 2004 in which the us supreme court held that the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine did not apply to physical evidence discovered as a result of statements made by the defendant when no miranda warning was given recognizing the importance of counties as political subdivisions of the state of north carolina and observing that the state constitutions limitations upon redistricting and apportionment uphold what the united states supreme court has termed traditional districting principles    such as compactness contiguity and respect for political subdivisions  citation omitted quoting shaw i 509 us at 647 113 s ct at 2827 125 l ed 2d at 528 holding that almendareztorres v united states 523 us 224 118 s ct 1219 140 l ed 2d 350 1998 expressly held that a prior conviction need not be proved to a jury and the united states supreme court has not held otherwise since recognizing utah counties as legal subdivisions holding that the court of appeals lacks the authority to overrule decisions of the supreme court of north carolina and has a responsibility to follow those decisions until otherwise ordered by the supreme court