Virginia House of Delegates v. Bethune-Hill

Virginia House of Delegates v. Bethune-Hill
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued March 18, 2019
Decided June 17, 2019
Full case nameVirginia House of Delegates v. Bethune-Hill
Docket no.18-281
Citations587 U.S. ___ (more)
139 S. Ct. 1945; 204 L. Ed. 2d 305
Case history
PriorBethune-Hill v. Va. State Bd. of Elections, 326 F. Supp. 3d 128 (E.D. Va. 2018); probable jurisdiction noted, 136 S. Ct. 2406 (2016); affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded, Bethune-Hill v. Virginia State Bd. of Elections, No. 15-680, 580 U.S. ___, 137 S. Ct. 788 (2017); ruling in favor of plaintiffs on remand, 326 F. Supp. 3d 128 (E.D. Va. 2018).
Holding
The Virginia House of Delegates lacks standing to file this appeal, either representing the state’s interests or in its own right.
Court membership
Chief Justice
John Roberts
Associate Justices
Clarence Thomas · Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Stephen Breyer · Samuel Alito
Sonia Sotomayor · Elena Kagan
Neil Gorsuch · Brett Kavanaugh
Case opinions
MajorityGinsburg, joined by Thomas, Sotomayor, Kagan, Gorsuch
DissentAlito, joined by Roberts, Breyer, Kavanaugh

Virginia House of Delegates v. Bethune-Hill, 587 U.S. ___ (2019), was a case argued before the United States Supreme Court on March 18, 2019, in which the Virginia House of Delegates appealed against the decision in 2018 by the district court that 11 of Virginia's voting districts were racially gerrymandered, and thus unconstitutional. The Court held the "Virginia House of Delegates lacks standing to file this appeal, either representing the state's interests or in its own right."[1] In other words, the court upheld the decision made by a federal district court ruling in June 2018 that 11 state legislative districts were an illegal racial gerrymander.[citation needed] This was following a previous (2017) case, Bethune-Hill v. Virginia State Bd. of Elections.[2][3]

  1. ^ Virginia House of Delegates v. Bethune-Hill, No. 18-281, 587 U.S. ___, 139 S. Ct. 1945, 1951 (2019).
  2. ^ Bethune-Hill v. Va. State Bd. of Elections, No. 15-680, 580 U.S. ___, 137 S. Ct. 788 (2017).
  3. ^ Justman, Jeffrey; Webber, Charles; Baker Daniels, Faegre. "Supreme Court Decides Virginia House of Delegates v. Bethune-Hill". JDSupra. Retrieved November 21, 2019.