Court Opinion

ID: 9625947
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 07:56:57.382259+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:06:18.183322
License: Public Domain

*519JUSTICE COMPTON, with whom JUSTICE STEPHENSON joins,
dissenting.
Article II, Section 6 of the Constitution of Virginia provides that “[ejvery electoral district shall be composed of contiguous and compact territory.” In this decision, the majority has written the compactness requirement completely out of die Constitution.
The majority tells us that “the use of the words ‘contiguous and compact,’ as joint modifiers of the word ‘territory’ in Article II, § 6, clearly limits their meaning as definitions of spatial restrictions in the composition of electoral districts.” Just what the majority means by “spatial restrictions” is not clear. According to the dictionary, the adjective “spatial” means “of or relating to space.” Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 2184 (1981). Of course, the modifiers “contiguous and compact” relate to space, so the majority has told us nothing by stating that which is obvious.
But in the guise of applying some mystical “spatial” concept, the majority proceeds to wholly disregard the constitutional requirement that the electoral districts at issue be “compact.” Among the constitutional defects in the General Assembly’s reapportionment plan is the obviously bizarre configurations of the 15th and 18th Districts.
The 15th District crosses 12 counties, only six of which are wholly within the district, and cuts through three independent cities. The 18th District crosses six counties, only two of which are entirely within the district, and six independent cities, only one of which is wholly included in the district. The 15th District is approximately 145 miles long and is only eight miles wide at its narrowest point. The 18th District is 165 miles long, and only five miles wide at some places.
The provisions of the Constitution of Virginia embody limitations upon the legislative power of apportionment, and whether those limitations have been exceeded is a question for determination by the judicial branch of government. Brown v. Saunders, 159 Va. 28, 35-36, 166 S.E. 105, 107 (1932). Notwithstanding the deference to be accorded an act of the General Assembly and the findings of the trial court, I would decide as a matter of law, given the facts and circumstances of this case, that the legislature has exceeded the constitutional limitation on its power. I would reverse the judgment of the trial court, find that the 15th and 18th Senatorial Districts as presently configured are unconstitutional, and hold that the enactment in question is void and of no effect.