The Supreme Court of Virginia [official website] agreed on Tuesday to hear an appeal [petition, PDF] filed by an advocacy group that challenges a decision [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] from earlier this year that upheld the constitutionality of 11 state legislative districts.

The plaintiffs, joined by OneVirginia2021 [advocacy website], a non-profit organization aimed at “fair redistricting”, sued the state on the grounds that the 11 districts were politically gerrymandered. Additionally, the plaintiffs argued that the districts were not compact as required by law. Article II, section 6 of the Virginia Constitution [Virginia Legislative Information System materials] provides three criteria for districts, stating that they must be contiguous, compact, and “shall be so constituted as to give, as nearly as is practicable, representation in proportion to the population of the district.” The plaintiffs contend that the state legislature “subordinated” those requirements listed in the constitution to other considerations such as balance and public policy in order to protect incumbents.

Following a three-day bench trial, Judge William Reilly Marchant of the 13th Judicial Circuit Court of Virginia [official website] ruled in favor of the state, saying:

This Court does not agree that the Supreme Court of Virginia has ever established a constitutionally required minimum compactness score for measuring the priority given to compactness in drawing legislative districts. Rather, the Supreme Court of Virginia has generally discussed the legislative reconciliation of competing criteria and the need to allow wide discretion to the Legislature in doing so.

Virginia House Speaker William Howell [official website] stated [Roanoke Times report] that the House Republican leaders “are prepared to defend this plan again” after praising Judge Marchant’s decision in March of this year.