Va. Senate Democrats ask state Supreme Court to disqualify Republicans' nominated map drawers

The Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus on Monday asked the state Supreme Court to disqualify all three nominees tapped by Republican leadership to help it draw the state’s new congressional and legislative maps, calling them “political operatives” with conflicts of interest.

The state Supreme Court is redrawing the maps after the bipartisan Virginia Redistricting Commission, approved by Virginia voters in a constitutional amendment last year, did not reach agreement on new congressional and General Assembly districts. The commission — pitched by advocates as a way to end partisan gerrymandering — gave up last month on drawing any state legislative maps because of partisan gridlock, and it officially failed on Monday to deliver a congressional map for the same reason.

Now, to assist the Supreme Court in drawing the maps, Democratic and Republican leadership in the General Assembly can each offer nominees for the court to hire as special masters. The court will ultimately select two, one nominated by each party.

Democrats nominated three political science professors who have backgrounds serving as special masters for federal and state courts in redistricting cases. But they argued that the Republican nominees, who are experienced in redistricting, also each have long track records of working to further Republican interests.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/va-senate-democrats-ask-state-supreme-court-to-disqualify-republicans-nominated-map-drawers/ar-AAQt2C2