Supreme Court to Hear Appeal Upholding VA House of Delegates District Lines

The Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal to Virginia’s House of Delegates district lines today.  The Court will be reviewing whether a three judge panel in U.S. District Court for Eastern District of Virginia erred in upholding the lines in twelve Virginia House seats earlier this year.  A number of Democrats have argued that the lines are unconstitutional as drawn.

The case, Bethune-Hill v. Virginia State Board of Elections, alleges that the General Assembly impermissibly used race as a primary factor in drawing the lines in House Districts 63 (Aird – D), 69 (Carr – D), 70 (McQuinn – D), 71 (McClellan – D), 74 (Bagby – D), 75 (Tyler – D), 77 (Spruill – D), 80 (James – D), 89 (Hester – D), 90 (Lindsey – D), 92 (Ward – D), and 95 (Price – D).

The three judge panel in the Eastern District held last October that 11 of the 12 districts were drawn without race being the primary factor, and for the one district where race was the primary factor (75), it was the primary factor because the General Assembly was complying with the requirements of federal anti-discrimination law, and the district lives survived a strict scrutiny analysis  The opinion was signed by two judges on the panel, Robert Payne and Gerald Lee, with Judge Barbara Keenan dissenting.

Because the case was required to be heard by a three judge panel under the Voting Rights Act, an appeal directly from the District Court to the Supreme Court is authorized under federal law.

Oral arguments have not yet been set in the matter.

The appeal notice comes right on the heels of the Court dismissing the federal redistrict case appeal in Wittman v. Personhuballah, finding the plaintiffs lacked standing, primarily because the most injured Congressman – Randy Forbes – told the court he would run in the 2nd district regardless of the outcome of the appeal.  That took away the requisite injury required to give the plaintiffs standing to sue.  The appeal was part of on-going efforts by the Democratic party to challenge any redistricting and voting changes in federal court.

SCOTUSBLOG notes that this appeal is “relatively unusual,” and notes that by taking up this case, “it would be the second consecutive Term it wades into the murky waters of Virginia redistricting.”

It is unclear what specific reasons the Court has in taking up the appeal.  With the 4-4 split on the court between its liberal and conservative wings, it’s almost impossible to predict what may happen here.

Speaker Howell issued the following statement today about the case, saying:

“The Eastern District Court plainly laid out the constitutionality of Virginia’s House of Delegates redistricting plan and we are confident that upon review the Supreme Court will affirm the lower court ruling.

“The Eastern District Court evaluated the districts in question on a case-by-case basis and found that each district withstood constitutional scrutiny.  The Eastern District Court’s ruling shows that the House districts were drawn in accordance with the Constitution, all state and federal laws, and in a fair and open process.

“I am confident the Supreme Court will reach the same conclusion. We look forward to presenting our case to the court.”