Ostensibly, the decision to push the Congressional redraw deadline to September was a win for Bill Howell and company (WaPo):
A federal court on Monday gave the Virginia General Assembly more time to redraw the state’s congressional map, which the panel ruled unconstitutional for diluting the influence of African American voters.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia moved the April 1 deadline to either Sept. 1 or 60 days after the U.S. Supreme Court rules on a pending appeal from congressional Republicans, whichever comes first.
The ruling favors the approach taken by House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford), who on Friday said he would not redraw the lines until the appeal was decided.
Naturally, Governor T-Mac was unhappy, at least publicly. However, the new timeline could actually be helpful to him.
The reason is a companion lawsuit that calls for a redraw of House of Delegate districts, which would be heavily influenced by the Congressional suit. The longer it takes for the General Assembly to redraw Congressional districts (assuming they are forced to do so), the longer it will take to even consider changes to the Delegate districts – and that could be long enough to force the Democrats’ dream scenario – a House of Delegates election in 2016.
Of course, they have to win the Congressional suit first, which may not be so easy given the Court’s apparent reception to a similar case in Alabama (WaPo). Still, you never know…
@deejaymcguire | facebook.com/people/Dj-McGuire | DJ’s posts
