A panel of three federal judges ruled Thursday that the 12 House of Delegates districts that Democrats challenged in federal court are constitutional, giving Republicans a win for now in Virginia’s fraught political map-making battle.
The 2-to-1 ruling comes four months after a separate three-judge panel sided with Democrats in a similar case centered on the state’s redistricting of its congressional map four years ago….
Brian Cannon, executive director of OneVirginia2021, which pushes for nonpartisan redistricting, said he was surprised and disappointed by the court’s ruling.
“The court had a choice between whether these districts are racially gerrymandered or politically gerrymandered,” he said. “The court chose [to rule that] this was a political gerrymander, which while completely damaging to our democracy, is completely legal. This case makes a case for reform. We’ve got to make political gerrymandering illegal.”
You can find the 155 page majority opinion and the 21 page dissenting opinion at this link.
I expect there will be an appeal to the Supreme Court.