Gov. Terry McAuliffe is calling an Aug. 17 special session of the General Assembly to comply with a court order that legislators redraw the state’s congressional map by Sept. 1.
“This special session is an opportunity to work together to fix Virginia’s congressional district lines so that politicians do not have a greater say in who represents Virginians than voters do. I look forward to working in a bipartisan way to meet the court’s mandate to pass a fair and equitable map by the court’s deadline.” McAuliffe said in a statement Tuesday.
Speaker of the House William J. Howell, R-Stafford, and Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City, called the move premature and said the case should play out in court first.
“As we have said before, the General Assembly fully intends to exercise its legal right to remedy any legal flaw ultimately found by the courts with respect to the current congressional districts. However, we continue to believe it would be inappropriate to act before the defendants have fully litigated this case.” Howell and Norment said in a statement.
Last month, a three-judge panel ruled 2-1 for a second time that Virginia legislators must redraw the state’s congressional map by Sept. 1 because it packs too many black residents into the 3rd Congressional District, which dilutes their voting strength.
Changes to the 3rd District, which spans from Richmond to Norfolk, will trigger revisions elsewhere and possibly could jeopardize the Republicans’ 8-3 advantage in the state’s House delegation. Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, a Democrat from Newport News, has held the seat since 1993.
A special session gives McAuliffe, a Democrat, leverage with Republicans who control the House and Senate. The governor would have to sign off on the new boundaries, which means he can hold out for changes that make additional congressional districts competitive. Or, he could choose not to sign off on the legislature’s plan. That would leave judges to draw Virginia’s new boundaries, relying not on political considerations but on constitutional criteria, such as whether the districts are compact and serve communities of common interest.
Howell and Norment said lawyers acting on behalf of the Virginia House and Senate sent a letter Tuesday to the judges in the case, asking the court to extend to Nov. 16 its deadline for the legislature to redraw the boundaries.
“This would allow the defendants the opportunity to further pursue their appeal, give the General Assembly the necessary time to prepare for a special session, and save taxpayer dollars by avoiding the potential for two special sessions without causing prejudice to the plaintiffs,” Howell and Norment said.
McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy said the governor will revisit the date of the special session if the court changes the deadline.
Three voters living in the 3rd District brought the original complaint against the State Board of Elections. It alleges that when legislators changed the district’s boundaries in 2012, they reduced the black population in surrounding districts and diluted minority influence there. They said the alleged racial gerrymandering violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
After the three-judge panel ruled for the plaintiffs in October, eight current and former Republican Virginia congressmen moved to intervene as plaintiffs and urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the lower court’s ruling.
In March, the U.S. Supreme Court told the federal court in Richmond to take another look at the case, after a ruling in which the high court sided with black officeholders and Democrats in an Alabama case.
Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte, R-6th, the senior GOP member of Virginia’s congressional delegation, has said he expects the defendants to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
No comments:
Post a Comment