THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 21, 1995 TAG: 9511210325
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
The Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union wants to join in fighting a federal lawsuit challenging the design of the state's 3rd Congressional District, the group's director said Monday.
Kent Willis said the chapter's executive committee voted unanimously to help fight the lawsuit, which the ACLU says would undermine the voting rights of black residents.
Two Republican Party activists filed the lawsuit last week in U.S. District Court in Richmond, alleging that the district is racially gerrymandered. The lawsuit was based on a U.S. Supreme Court decision in a Georgia case in June, which ruled race cannot be a ``predominant factor'' in creating congressional districts except in extraordinary circumstances.
The lawsuit by Don Moon of Hampton and Robert Smith of Norfolk focuses on the 3rd Congressional District of Democratic Rep. Robert C. Scott of Newport News, who is the state's first black congressman since Reconstruction.
Willis said his group will argue that the state had a ``compelling interest'' in creating a black-majority district to remedy a history of race discrimination in the area.
Willis said the organization feels the state's lawyers might not defend the congressional districts vigorously because the state was reluctant to draw them up in the first place. In addition, the ACLU feels that racial minorities in the district should have their own counsel.
The ACLU will recruit individuals and organizations who want to participate in the lawsuit and hopes to file its request within seven to 10 days to enter the case, he said. A federal three-judge panel that will consider the case must grant the ACLU permission to intervene.
The issue has national importance, Willis said. ``Over the next few years, many of the minority congressional districts are going to be attacked in court. It is essential . . . that substantial resources be put into the defense of that attack.''
Accordingly, the ACLU will bring in some of the nation's leading attorneys with expertise in the Voting Rights Act and will be able to tap the resources of its national office, Willis said.
Moon is the 3rd District Republican chairman and Smith is a black activist in Norfolk who has run for Norfolk treasurer and for the 2nd District congressional seat.
Their lawsuit seeks an injunction banning further congressional elections in Virginia under the existing plan. The 11 members of the House of Representatives are up for election next year. If they prevail, the General Assembly would have to draw new districts.
KEYWORDS: REDISTRICTING by CNB