Fed. Court Strikes Down Virginia Congressional Map

[Statistikhengst]

First Florida, now Virginia:

http://online.wsj.com/articles/virg...struck-down-by-federal-court-panel-1412723982

A federal-court panel on Tuesday struck down Virginia’s congressional map, ruling the state’s last redistricting effort relied too heavily on race in drawing boundaries.

The 2-1 ruling, from a Virginia federal court, sided with challengers who said the Virginia election map packed black voters too heavily into one district, reducing their influence in other state districts.

The federal judges, sitting as a special election review panel, didn’t require the state to change its map for the midterm elections, which are just weeks away. Instead, the judges said Virginia lawmakers should act “within the next legislative session” to draw new electoral districts.

At issue was Virginia’s Third Congressional District, which includes parts of Richmond. The black voting-age population after the redistricting makes up about 56% of the district, according to the court’s opinion. The court described the district as an oddly shaped composition of a “disparate chain” of predominantly black communities. The district’s congressman, Rep. Bobby Scott, won the district with 70% of the vote in 2010, and won with 81% in 2012 after the redistricting that year.

Court strikes down Va. congressional map - Tarini Parti - POLITICO.com

...“[W]e find that Plaintiffs have shown race predominated,” the opinion states. “We find that the Third Congressional District cannot survive review under the exacting standard of strict scrutiny.”

The existing map will remain in effect for the 2014 elections, the court ruled, ordering the state legislature to redraw the map by April 1, 2015.

The decision in Virginia is the latest decision in Democrats’ efforts to reverse what they see as Republican gerrymandering in several states. Florida’s GOP-controlled state legislature was also forced to redraw its congressional map earlier this year after a Democratic suit invalidated the lines.

Redrawing the map in Virginia has the potential to upend the composition of the state’s delegation in Congress...

Judges say Virginia packed blacks in 1 congressional district diluting black votes elsewhere Star Tribune

Virginia legislators packed too many black voters into one congressional district in order to make adjacent districts safer for Republican incumbents, a federal court ruled Tuesday.

The 2-1 ruling by a panel of judges left the state's congressional districts intact for November's elections but ordered the General Assembly to draw new boundaries by April 1 next year correcting the flawed 2012 redistricting plan.

At issue was the 3rd Congressional District, which has had a black majority since 1991...

...The judges also said the 3rd District split more voting precincts and localities than any of Virginia's other 10 districts — fallout from the emphasis on race. It's an oddly shaped district stretching from Norfolk northwesterly into Richmond, with an arm jutting into heavily black Petersburg. The Newport News portion of the district is horseshoe-shaped.