Supreme Court dismisses GOP appeal over Virginia districts
A unanimous Supreme Court has dismissed a Republican appeal over congressional districts in Virginia.
The justices on Monday left in place a decision by a lower court that said Virginia illegally packed black voters into one district in 2012 to make adjacent districts safer for Republican incumbents.
The dispute concerned Virginia's 3rd Congressional District, which is the only one in the state with a majority of African-American residents. Represented by Democrat Bobby Scott, the district runs from north of Richmond to the coastal cities of Norfolk and Newport News. Its shape has been described as a "grasping claw."
The same three-judge court that threw out the 2012 map drawn by the state Legislature has since created new districts that are in place for the 2016 congressional elections.
Republican members of Congress wanted the court to reinstate the 2012 districting map. But the justices ruled that the elected officials did not have the right to challenge the court ruling.
Scott's district is one of 11 congressional districts in Virginia. Republicans who controlled the state Legislature when the new map was drawn in 2012 created districts that elected eight Republicans and three Democrats. At the same time, Democrats carried Virginia in the past two presidential elections and hold both Senate seats and the governor's office.