"[2]The Republican Party lost one of its seats in Congress when a federal court redrew Virginia's 4th congressional district.
[6] Richmond Circuit Court Judge W. Reilly Marchant ruled that the constitutionality of the map was "fairly debatable" and therefore upheld it.
[8] The Court gave the Virginia legislature until October 30, 2018, to submit a new map, but the Republican-majority Assembly was unable to agree on a map that would also be supported by Democratic Governor Ralph Northam, and the Court instead appointed University of California, Irvine political science professor Bernard Grofman to serve as special master to oversee the redistricting process.
[10] Governor Bob McDonnell's Independent Bipartisan Advisory Commission on Redistricting for the Commonwealth of Virginia made its report on April 1, 2011.
It made two recommendations for each state legislative house that showed maps of districts more compact and contiguous than those adopted by the General Assembly.
Districts are to be established on the basis of population, in conformance with federal and state laws and court cases, including those addressing racial fairness.
It will also cement requirements for commission transparency and historic civil rights protections for racial and ethnic minorities in the Virginia Constitution.
[18] The commission failed to agree on maps for the new districts,[19] so in accordance with the Virginia Constitution, the Supreme Court took over responsibility from the group and completed the redistricting process in December 2021 with the help of two court-appointed special masters.