Post by Logan on Mar 21, 2016 6:54:04 GMT -6
The Supreme Court on Monday takes up a long-running political fight about whether Virginia lawmakers redrew the state’s congressional map to protect the commonwealth’s lone African American congressman — or to make sure he was not joined by a second.
The court will consider whether Republican lawmakers packed African American voters into Democratic Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott’s district to comply with the Voting Rights Act or to make surrounding districts more hospitable to white candidates.
A lower court ruled against the legislature last year, and the judges then created a second district designed for a black candidate. Voters in the state’s congressional primary go to the polls in June — about when the justices would seem likely to rule on this new plan.
The case presents what has become familiar litigation over how states divide up their residents into congressional districts, which is essential to the country’s politics and crucial to political parties.
Read more: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/va-republicans-take-redistricting-fight-to-the-supreme-court/2016/03/20/876e9dee-eabf-11e5-b0fd-073d5930a7b7_story.html
The court will consider whether Republican lawmakers packed African American voters into Democratic Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott’s district to comply with the Voting Rights Act or to make surrounding districts more hospitable to white candidates.
A lower court ruled against the legislature last year, and the judges then created a second district designed for a black candidate. Voters in the state’s congressional primary go to the polls in June — about when the justices would seem likely to rule on this new plan.
The case presents what has become familiar litigation over how states divide up their residents into congressional districts, which is essential to the country’s politics and crucial to political parties.
Read more: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/va-republicans-take-redistricting-fight-to-the-supreme-court/2016/03/20/876e9dee-eabf-11e5-b0fd-073d5930a7b7_story.html