4th Circuit upholds Virginia congressional districting plan
AP reports: A federal appeals court Wednesday upheld state lawmakers' 2001 congressional redistricting, rejecting a claim the plan illegally diluted black voting strength in one district.
Nine black citizens claimed the Republican-authored plan violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act by hindering the ability of black voters to forge a coalition with other groups to elect a candidate of their choice.
A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, however, ruled such coalitions are not protected by law. The plan would be illegal only if blacks had been denied an opportunity to form a numerical majority in the district, the court said. But even before the maps were redrawn, blacks did not hold a numerical majority.
The ruling upheld a decision by a federal judge.
The plaintiffs had claimed the General Assembly's plan illegally "packed" blacks into the black-majority 3rd District, encompassing Newport News, while decreasing the black population of the adjacent 4th District, encompassing Chesapeake, from 39.4 percent to 33.6 percent. The black voting-age population went from 37.8 percent to 32.3 percent. -- Court Upholds Va. Congress Redistricting (AP via SunHerald.com)
The decision is Hall v. Commonwealth of Virginia.