Southern Republicans redistrict after Supreme Court rules, Dems lose big in Virginia

Democrats suffered a major setback and Republicans continued to reshape voting maps their way in a frantic week of developments prompted by court rulings. The Supreme Court of Virginia Friday nullified the results of a special election on April 21, where 1.6 million Virginians approved redistricting that Democrats hoped would win them four more House seats. In a 4-3 ruling, the court said the legislature followed the wrong process for putting the question, an amendment to the state constitution, on the ballot. Meanwhile, Southern Republicans rushed to redraw their states' congressional voting maps after an April 29 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which weakened voting rights protections for minority communities. The Louisiana v. Callais ruling has remade the redistricting race that President Trump began last year to help Republicans hold on to the U.S. House this fall. In Louisiana, Republican Gov. Jeff Landry suspended the May 6 primaries for Congress, after early votes had already been cast. Republican-led legislatures in Alabama and Tennessee started special redistricting sessions within four days of the ruling. South Carolina Republicans have started steps toward redrawing there. Protesters have flooded capitol buildings in Montgomery, Ala. and Nashville. Civil rights activists and Democratic lawmakers have said the redistricting dilutes the voting power of Black voters, harkening back to the south's history before the movement for civil rights. …