THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 12, 1996 TAG: 9609120327
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVID REED, ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ROANOKE, VA. LENGTH: 65 lines
The Virginia Legislature violated the Constitution in creating the state's first and only black-majority congressional district, attorneys for two Republican activists told federal judges Wednesday.
The activists want the judges to force the state to redraw the 3rd District so it complies with recent Supreme Court decisions. The high court has struck down districts where race was the chief factor in how they were drawn in Georgia, Texas and North Carolina during the past year.
``Racial consideration predominated the construction of this district,'' said Paul Hurd, attorney for the two 3rd District Republicans.
Deputy Attorney General Frank Ferguson said the General Assembly worked for a year to create a new district after the 1990 census found that Virginia's population increase warranted another seat in Congress.
``The General Assembly had a number of reasons for drawing lines where they decided to draw them,'' he said, including protecting incumbents and balancing Republican and Democratic power. ``Race was not the predominant factor.''
The state also felt obliged under the Civil Rights Act to create a black majority district to avoid diluting overall black voting strength, Ferguson said.
The judges' decision is not expected to affect November's elections.
The 3rd District, with a 62 percent black voting-age population, meanders 225 miles in southeastern and central Virginia, stretching into parts of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Richmond and Petersburg.
Rep. Robert C. Scott, the first black elected to Congress this century from Virginia, won the seat in 1992, the first year after its creation.
``I certainly think the lines were legally drawn,'' Scott, a Democrat, said during a break in the hearing, which resumes Thursday. The judges - two from U.S. District Courts and one from the federal appeals court - are expected to rule before the Nov. 5 election.
``Everyone is working under the assumption that nothing will affect this year's election,'' Scott said.
The lawsuit was filed by Donald M. Moon, a retired Navy man, and Robert Smith, a black taxi driver and unsuccessful candidate for local office. They are receiving assistance from the Campaign for a Color Blind America, a Houston-based organization that has raised money for suits in at least six states.
Supreme Court rulings say state legislatures should pay more attention to geographical compactness and avoid dividing localities in drawing districts.
Ronald Weber, a political science professor who testified for the plaintiffs, said Virginia's 3rd District is less geographically compact than the Texas and Georgia districts that were illegally drawn.
Weber also noted that the district splits eight cities and three counties in crafting the 3rd District. Previously, only five localities were split in creating Virginia's 10 other congressional districts.
The Voting Rights Act requires the Justice Department to approve redistricting plans in states such as Virginia with a history of racial discrimination. It also prohibits further dilution of minority voting strength.
Del. John Watkins, R-Chesterfield, testified that he and other legislators who worked on the plan understood that the Justice Department would only accept a district with a black population above 60 percent.
Weber said a compact district could be created in the Tidewater with a black voting population of 45 percent, or a district could be drawn in the Richmond-Petersburg area with a 35 percent black voting population.
KEYWORDS: REDISTRICTING GERRYMANDERING by CNB