RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ A federal court has struck down the boundaries of Virginia’s black-majority 3rd congressional district. The 2-1 ruling Tuesday by a panel of judges leaves the district intact for November’s elections but orders the General Assembly to draw new boundaries by April 1, 2015. The court ruled in favor of two Virginia voters who accused the General Assembly of “racial gerrymandering” by improperly packing African-Americans into a black-majority district to make adjacent districts safer for Republican incumbents. The GOP holds an 8-3 advantage in Virginia’s congressional delegation. U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, the state’s only black congressman, has represented the district since 1993.
