West Virginia Leaders Turn to Supreme Court
Top West Virginia legislators have asked the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s decision and let them keep a new Congressional map in place.
In an emergency appeal filed late Friday, key legislative leaders and Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin (D) said that drawing up a new map would cost too much money and take too much time.
The map, which was approved by the legislature and signed into law by Tomblin, had just one minor change, shifting a single county to another district.
But on Jan. 3, a federal three-judge panel ruled that the number of people in each district were not evenly distributed. The panel gave the legislature until Jan. 17 to draw a new map.
With a filing deadline of Jan. 28 and a May primary, state lawmakers asked the Supreme Court to overturn the court decision quickly.