"Commonwealth voters last month approved-by a 52 percent to 48 percent margin-a constitutional amendment to allow redistricting. But responding to a lawsuit brought by Republicans, the Virginia high court found that the Democratic-led legislature made procedural errors in how it placed the question on the ballot. The majority opinion of the state Supreme Court found that the legislature violated the multistep process for putting constitutional amendments on the ballot and that the "constitutional violation incurably taints the resulting referendum vote and nullifies its legal efficacy. ... This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void," the majority wrote."
"It ordered that the state must use the same congressional district map in the upcoming election as it used in 2022 and 2024." This is some splendid legal flummery right there. New Jim Crow with the same constitutional cosplay that used to justify literacy tests and the poll tax. Florida Republicans redistricted in that state in April. Then, after the U.S. Supreme Court weakened voting rights for minority communities last week, Republicans in Tennessee, Alabama and Louisiana began redistricting in their states."
"To place an amendment on the ballot in Virginia, the legislature is required to vote on it twice in separate special sessions with an election in between. Law"
In Tennessee, legislative debate over a redistricting map that would remove the state’s only majority-minority district turned into angry chaos. In Virginia, the state Supreme Court rejected a redistricting plan approved by referendum after finding procedural errors in how the question was placed on the ballot. Voters had approved a constitutional amendment by a 52% to 48% margin, but the court held that the legislature violated the required multistep process for constitutional amendments. The court ruled the violation tainted the referendum vote, nullifying its legal effect, and ordered the state to use the same congressional district map as in 2022 and 2024. The piece also notes ongoing redistricting actions in Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, and Louisiana.
#redistricting #voting-rights #constitutional-amendments #state-supreme-court #majority-minority-districts
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