Virginia Rising

The case, brought by lawyers affiliated with the Democratic Party, raised the same issue as a separate challenge to Virginia’s congressional map. That case met with different results. Judges are in the process of redrawing the state’s congressional boundaries.

Judge Barbara Milano Keenan wrote a dissent in the House of Delegates case, saying that “despite the Supreme Court’s clear warning against the mechanical use of racial targets in redistricting, this court upholds the Virginia General Assembly’s application of a one-size-fits-all racial quota to 12 highly dissimilar legislative districts.”

Payne was nominated by President George H.W. Bush, Lee by President Bill Clinton and Keenan by President Barack Obama.

The ruling — which the plaintiffs can appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court — is a major victory for Republicans in the House of Delegates.

If the judges had ruled the 12 districts unconstitutional and ordered new boundaries, candidates could have faced special elections in new districts in 2016 — a presidential year in which the high turnout favors Democrats.

That could have helped Democrats cut into Republicans’ 2-to-1 edge in the House of Delegates.

“We are very pleased that the Eastern District Court upheld the bipartisan redistricting plan adopted by the House of Delegates in 2011,” Speaker of the House William J. Howell, R-Stafford, said in a statement.

“Today’s decision validates our consistently held view that the House districts were drawn in accordance with the Constitution, all state and federal laws, and in a fair and open process.

“This politically motivated lawsuit, funded by liberal billionaires, unnecessarily cost Virginia taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Marc E. Elias, a partner with the law firm of Perkins Coie, was a key attorney for plaintiffs in both suits, which were funded by the National Democratic Redistricting Trust.

Tram Nguyen, co-executive director of New Virginia Majority, called the court’s decision disappointing, “particularly considering the clear evidence that House Republicans increased the concentration of black voters in certain districts in order to protect Republican incumbents.”

Payne, who wrote the panel’s majority opinion in the House of Delegates case, was the dissenting judge in the two 2-1 rulings in the congressional redistricting case. It held that Virginia legislators unconstitutionally packed too many blacks into the state’s 3rd Congressional District, represented by Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, D-3rd.

In the congressional boundaries case, an expert is to recommend a redistricting plan to that court by the end of the month. Those judges expect to rule on a new congressional map in November.

In December 2014, several Virginia voters filed the House of Delegates lawsuit accusing the General Assembly of “racial gerrymandering” by packing black voters into 12 districts.

According to the complaint, filed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the General Assembly in 2011 adopted a redistricting plan purposefully drawn to have “an African-American voting age population that met or exceeded a predetermined 55 percent threshold,” diminishing the influence of black voters in the surrounding districts as a result.

Here are the 12 majority-black House Districts challenged in the suit and the legislators who now hold the seats: District 63 — Del. Joseph E.e Preston, D-Petersburg; District 69, Del. Betsy B. Carr, D-Richmond; District 70, Del. Delores L. McQuinn, D-Richmond; District 71, Del. Jennifer L. McClellan, D-Richmond.

Also: District 74, Del. Lamont Bagby, D-Henrico; District 75, Del. Roslyn C. Tyler, D-Sussex; District 77, Del. Lionell Spruill Sr., D-Chesapeake; District 80, Del. Matthew James, D-Portsmouth; District 89, Del. Daun Sessoms Hester, D-Norfolk; District 90, Del. Joe Lindsey, D-Norfolk; District 92, Del. Jeion A. Ward, D-Hampton; and District 95, Del. Mamye E. BaCote, D-Newport News.

In an opinion that ran for more than 150 pages, Payne wrote Thursday: “We have concluded that, except as to House District 75,” represented by Tyler, “the plaintiffs have not carried that burden and that race was not shown to have been the predominant factor in the creation of 11 of the 12 challenged districts.”

He wrote that he and Lee are satisfied that race was the predominant factor in the creation of House District 75.

“However, we have also concluded that, in using race, the General Assembly was pursuing a compelling state interest, namely, actual compliance with federal anti-discrimination law, and that, in the process, the General Assembly used race in a manner narrowly tailored to achieve that interest.”