The Court held the "Virginia House of Delegates lacks standing to file this appeal, either representing the state's interests or in its own right.

[2][3] In 2011, Virginia was subject to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibited the redistricting process from eliminating districts that were made largely of minority groups to discourage their preferred candidates from taking office.

[4] By isolating the "African American vote," Jones' actions allowed for populations of the remaining state districts in Virginia to remain dominantly white, securing Republican seats in Virginia's House.

[4] On December 22, 2014, in Virginia, 12 voters filed suit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia that the government participated in racial gerrymandering and thus violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

[9][5] The Virginia House of Delegates had attempted to place the exact same percentage of African-American voters in each of the districts, claiming that it was necessary to do so in order to comply with federal voting-rights laws.

[5] Did the district court make a mistake in holding that the Virginia House of Delegates "did not satisfy its burden to show that the legislature's use of race was narrowly tailored to achieve the compelling state interest of compliance with Section 5 of the VRA 52 U.S.C.

In other words, this means that the litigant must show a "concrete and particularized injury, that is fairly traceable to the challenged conduct and is likely to be redressed by a favorable decision.

[5] In response to the majority opinion of the court, Justice Samuel Alito, backed by the other dissenting judges, stated that the House did in fact have standing because the new redistricting plan would injure the House by affecting who was elected to it.

"[12] In other words, Section 2 mandates that the drawing of electoral districts cannot "improperly dilute minorities' voting power.

In some states, incumbent legislators work together to protect their own seats, which produces less competition in the political system.

... [It] is often the case that partisan redistricting has the effect of reducing the safety of incumbents, thereby making elections more competitive.