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On Mon, racial (as opposed to partisan) gerrymandering returns to SCOTUS as the court hears the appeal of a decision finding that 11 Virginia house of delegates districts had been unconstitutionally drawn with too much consideration of race. #fairmaps 1/ brennancenter.org/legal-work/bet…
This is the second trip to SCOTUS for the Virginia racial gerrymandering case. #fairmaps 2/
Originally, the district court held that the 11 districts were *not* racial gerrymanders. But in March 2017, SCOTUS reversed that decision, holding that the district court had applied the wrong standard in deciding that race had not predominated. #fairmaps 3/
The case then went back to the district court, which held a second trial on whether the 11 Virginia districts were racial gerrymanders. This time, the court found that they were in a decision in June 2018. That opinion here: brennancenter.org/sites/default/… #fairmaps 5/ 
And here things get a bit interesting because the GOP-controlled VA House of Delegates and the speaker of the house, both of whom had intervened in the case, appealed to SCOTUS. #fairmaps 6/
But Virginia's Democratic attorney general Mark Herrring did not and instead asserted that the VA House and house speaker lacked standing (i.e. the legal power) to ask for SCOTUS review. His filing here: brennancenter.org/sites/default/… #fairmaps 7/
SCOTUS agreed to hear the case, but also asked for briefing on the standing question (whether VA Republicans have the right to be bringing the appeal) - so an added twist for Monday's argument (we'll see how much time the Justice actually spend on it). #fairmaps 8/
In the mean time, the Trump DOJ also is participating in the case - and agrees that VA Republicans lack standing. #fairmaps 9/
Though it goes on to argue that the district court didn't get the racial predominance analysis right this time either. #fairmaps 10/
To say the least, Monday will an interesting argument time wise, with VA Republicans getting 25 minutes, the Justice Dept. 10 minutes, Mark Herring 10 minutes, and 15 minutes for the plaintiffs in the case. #fairmaps 11/
Oh, and although SCOTUS sometimes puts the redrawing of maps on hold while it hears redistricting appeals, it declined to do so in this instance. #fairmaps 12/
As a result, the district court has already completed the remedial process and put in place a new map - which subject to how SCOTUS rules will be used in the 2019 elections. That map order here: brennancenter.org/sites/default/… #fairmaps 13/
