Very strange breakdown in this morning’s Supreme Court 5-4 ruling (see below) in the Bethune-Hill” Virginia “racial packing” case, but the bottom line is that it’s good news: Virginia’s new, racially “unpacked” House of Delegates districts – the ones that were in place for the primaries last Tuesday – were upheld, albeit on “Standing” grounds and by a very close margin. See below for the full SCOTUS opinion, delivered by Justice Ginsburg, and in which Justices Thomas, Sotomayor, Kagan and Gorsuch (I told you it was a very strange breakdown!) joined. Bottom line:
“The House lacks standing, either to represent the State’s interests or in its own right…One House of [Virginia’s] bicameral legislature cannot alone continue the litigation against the will of its partners in the legislative process”
For some previous stories on this case, see Supreme Court Posts Audio, Transcript of 3/18 Arguments in Crucial Virginia House of Delegates “Racial Packing” Case, BREAKING: Court Orders Special Master to Use “Best-Case Scenario” Map for Dems, BREAKING: SCOTUS Denies Virginia House Republicans’ Stay Request on New, Non-Racially-“Packed” Districts and BREAKING: GOP Racial Gerrymandering Thrown Out in Virginia 11 House of Delegates Districts Must Be Redrawn by 2019 Elections.
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