Just Politics

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Supreme Court hands Democrats a win in Virginia racial gerrymander case
By Ariane de Vogue, Ryan Nobles and Devan Cole, CNN

Updated 12:52 PM ET, Mon June 17, 2019

Washington (CNN)In a victory for Democrats in Virginia, the Supreme Court held Monday that the Republican-led Virginia House of Delegates did not have the legal right to challenge a lower court opinion that struck several district maps they had drawn as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.

This means court-ordered maps that favored Democrats will continue to be used.
The decision will have an immediate impact on Virginia's fall legislative elections at a crucial time. The state, once reliably Republican, has slowly drifted left. Republicans have not won a statewide race since 2009, but they have held on to both the Senate and House by slim margins. This fall, every state legislative seat is up for re-election and the GOP holds only a two-seat advantage in both chambers.
Had the court ruled in favor of the Republican challenge, it would've greatly improved their chances of holding on to the House of Delegates. Twenty-six House districts were re-aligned by an outside expert after a lower court ruled 11 districts unconstitutional.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the opinion for a 5-4 court, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Neil Gorsuch.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/17/politics/supreme-court-racial-virginia-gerrymandering-case/index.html?