Virginia House of Delegates v. Bethune-Hill Oral Argument

The Supreme Court heard oral argument in Virginia House of Delegates v. Bethune-Hill. The case concerns whether 11 Virginia congressional districts redrawn by Republican lawmakers in 2011 were racially gerrymandered in violation of federal voting rights law. In 2014, Democratic voters challenged the maps, arguing that lawmakers used a formula that packed black voters into certain districts, thereby diluting their voting power state-wide. The Court has dealt with this case before, telling a lower court back in 2017 to look into whether race was an “essential basis” for the new maps. In June 2018, the Eastern District of Virginia federal court ruled that 11 of the maps were unconstitutional. Republican lawmakers filed an appeal with the nation’s highest court. close