Listen: NPR Spotlights Redistricting Reform in Virginia

By EditorMar 20, 2017

Virginia - NPR interviews the executive director of One Virginia 2021, a nonpartisan organization that's challenging the constitutionality of 11 state legislative district boundaries.

Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanders, REFORMgerrymandering, NPR, reform, Virginia

Packing Minorities Into Districts. When Is That Ever Okay?

By EditorDec 05, 2016

Washington DC - The Supreme Court will tackle that question today as it hears oral arguments in two redistricting cases. Both cases are alleged racial gerrymander claims; one orginating from Virginia's state legislative map and the other from North Carolina's congressional district map. (more…)

Race in Redistricting, Racial Gerrymandering, Redistricting, Redistricting Litigation, Redistricting Race Rules, Voting Rights Actgerrymandering, lawindepth, legal, lpvra, North Carolina, racial gerrymandering, scotus, Supreme Court, Virginia, Voting Rights Act, washington dc

VA State Supreme Court Blocks Executive Order Restoring Voting Rights to Felons

By EditorJul 25, 2016

Virginia - On Friday, Virginia's state supreme court blocked governor Terry McAuliffe’s move to restore voting rights to felons that have completed their sentence in a scathing 4-3 opinion that chided the state's top executive for the “unprecedented scope, magnitude, and categorical nature” of the executive order. Read more in the Wall Street Journal. The court emphasized that the governor's clemency powers were meant to be affected on a case-by-case basis. 11,600 former felons are already registered to vote under the now defunct order. Those registrations will now be cancelled per the court's order. Dissenting judges contended that the…

RedistrictingFelon Voting, Virginia

Virginia Mistakenly Restored Voting Rights to “Worst Sexual Predators”

By EditorJun 23, 2016

Virginia - Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe’s April restoration of voting rights to felons that have completed their full sentence, hit a snafu last week when it was discovered that a small group of "ineligible" people had been inadvertently put on the list of eligible voters; Sex offenders who have been civilly committed to a treatment facility. Read more at triblive.

RedistrictingVirginia, voter ID

Virginia Supreme Court to Mull Governor’s Felon Voting Rights Expansion

By EditorJun 10, 2016

Virginia - The Virginia Supreme Court will hear a challenge to Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe’s April order restoring voting rights to over 200,000 of the state's felons in a special session scheduled for Tuesday, July 19. The Virginia Attorney General plans a four-point defense of the governor's authority under the State constitution to restore felon voting rights. Read more in the Richmond Free Press. The change is sweeping: Nearly half of African-Americans in Virginia, which makeup 20% of the population - are affected by the civil war era law. Read more in the New York Times. Watch a local television…

RedistrictingFelon Voting, Virginia

Senators cited for contempt in redistricting case

By EditorApr 13, 2016

Lawmakers are challenging a judge's order to turn over documents, claiming legislative privilege. Source: Senators cited for contempt in redistricting case

Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanders, Redistricting Litigationcontempt, legislative privelege, Virginia

Legislative Privilege Slows Down Virginia State Legislative Map Lawsuit

By EditorMar 28, 2016

Virginia - Reform organization OneVirginia2021 wants to get into State court and litigate what they say is a heavily gerrymandered State legislative district map. A bipartisan group of legislators wants to settle the issue of legislative privilege first. That is; whether they have to deliver to their litigation opponents, private communications between themselves and third-party consultants who advised them during the map-drawing process. A court must answer this question of whether the long recognized legislative privilege extends to dealings with parties outside of the legislature. According to the Daily Press, this group of intrepid lawmakers is ready to be held in…

Redistricting, Redistricting GerrymandersVirginia

Supreme Court: Incumbent Congressman Has a Right to His District?

By EditorMar 22, 2016

Washington, DC - This was congressman's Rep. Randy Forbes (R., Va.) argument Monday at the Supreme Court. In an attempt to overturn a federal court in Richmond's congressional map, congressman Forbes asserted his right as an incumbent not to have "his" district altered to his disadvantage; a novel legal argument to say the least. Read the Wall Street Journal Article here.

Redistricting, Redistricting LitigationVirginia, washington dc

Weekly Redistricting Update

By EditorNov 17, 2015

Florida: State Legislature Cries "Uncle," Gives Up On a Legislative District Map Last week the Florida Legislature ended its second special redistricting session without a map for state senate districts. Senate leaders are throwing the issue back to the court, and have proposed that the court have a special master draw the map. This "proposal" reflects many senators' disapproval of the court's handling of the congressional map redraw, which invited parties to the litigation to propose maps instead of having a more neutral party redraw the lines. A court hearing is schedule for December 14th. Virginia: Supreme Court Will…

RedistrictingFlorida, Texas, texas redistricting, Virginia

Bernard Grofman Selected by Virginia Court to Redraw Congressional Map

By EditorSep 28, 2015

Richmond, VA: Dr. Bernard Grofman, an economics and political science professor at the University of California, Irvine has been selected by a federal district court panel in Virginia as the expert line drawer for the states' embattled congressional map. (more…)

Redistrictingcongressional, Virginia