Fmr. Va. AG Cuccinelli on Va.’s Supreme Court Redistricting Decision: The Vote Is Irrelevant to the Consideration of the Opinion

TRANSCRIPT:

CUCCINELLI: “And I would note that, in oral argument, the very first question from Justice Wes Russell to the lawyer for the Commonwealth, Richard Hawkins, who was hired from out of state to come argue a Virginia constitutional issue, which is odd, but the first question to him was, does the outcome of the referendum last week matter at all in the legal consideration of the issues we have before us? And Jay Jones’ own lawyer said ‘no, your Honor, it doesn’t matter at all.’ Thus yanking the rug out from under the public narrative of his own boss. But he was legally correct. The vote, as noted in the majority opinion, is irrelevant to the consideration of the opinion. The opinion did address why they did not rule on the referendum prior to the vote.”