BREAKING: Excellent news regarding the long-awaited outcome of the Bethune-Hill vs. Virginia State Board of Elections racial gerrymandering case. See below, per Del. Mark Levine.
P.S. The 11 districts that will need to be redrawn are: HDs 63 (Del. Lashrecse Aird), 69 (Del. Betsy Carr), 70 (Del. Delores McQuinn), 71 (Del. Jeff Bourne), 74 (Del. Lamont Bagby), 77 (Del. Cliff Hayes), 80 (Del. Matthew James), 89 (Del. Jay Jones), 90 (Del. Joe Lindsey), 92 (Del. Jeion Ward), and 95 (Del. Cia Price).
UPDATE: I just added the decision, below. It’s 188 pages long; happy reading! 🙂
UPDATE #2: A few key lines from the decision are…1) “we hold that the plaintiffs have shown through telling direct and circumstantial evidence that race predominated over traditional districting factors in the construction of the 11 remaining challenged districts.We further hold that the intervenors have not satisfied their burden to show that the legislature’s use of race was narrowly tailored to achieve the compelling state interest of compliance with Section 5 of the VRA, 52 U.S.C. § 10304.”; 2) “We therefore conclude that the 2011 Virginia House of Delegates redistricting plan violates the Equal Protection Clause”; 3) “We therefore allow the Virginia General Assembly until October 30, 2018 to construct a remedial districting plan that rectifies the constitutional deficiencies identified in this opinion.”
Big news! Republican racial gerrymandering in Virginia thrown out by 4th Circuit Court of Appeals (which includes Virginia). At least 11 districts must be redrawn in time for 2019 Elections. This means that Virginians might soon have a real say in choosing who represents them in the House of Delegates!
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