The Supreme Court will once again Return to the Subject of Racial Gerrymandering, in a Case from Virginia Challenging the Districting Plan Drawn in 2011 for the State’s House of Delegates.
In 2017, the Supreme Court Ruled that a Three-Judge District Court had Applied the wrong Legal Standard when it Upheld 12 Districts against Claims that they were the Product of Racial Gerrymandering.
The Justices sent the Case Back to the Lower Court, Ordering it to take another Look at 11 of those Districts, and in particular, whether Race was the Primary Factor used to Draw the Districts. The Justices Upheld the 12th District.
Applying the Standard Outlined by the Supreme Court, the Lower Court concluded that Race was indeed the Primary Factor Driving the District Boundaries.
Because the Legislature also had Not Shown that it needed to Use the Same Population Targets in each of the “Vastly Dissimilar” Districts at Issue to Comply with Federal Voting Rights Laws, the Lower Court continued, the Districts Violate the Constitution.
The Virginia House of Delegates and Kirkland Cox, the Speaker of the House of Delegates, Appealed to the Supreme Court, which Announced today that it would Review their Appeal. Redistricting Cases are among a Narrow Set of Cases with an Automatic Right to Appeal to the Supreme Court.
The Virginia Board of Elections and, the Department of Elections, and Several State Officials Filed a Separate Brief, Represented by Virginia’s Solicitor General, Toby Heytens.
Heytens urged the Justices to Dismiss the Legislature’s Appeal, telling them that the House of Delegates and Cox Lack a Legal Right to Appeal because Virginia’s Attorney General is Responsible for Representing the State in Cases like this one. The Fact that Mark Herring, Virginia’s Attorney General, has Declined to Appeal the Lower Court’s Decision to the Supreme Court does not, Heytens contended, allow the Legislators to do so instead.
This Morning the Justices announced that they would Review the District Court’s Decision, but they also Ordered the Parties to Address the Question broached by Heytens, whether the Legislature and Cox have a Legal Right to Bring their Appeal, in their Briefs.
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