US justices rule against Virginia Republicans in black voters case

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday left in place a lower court's ruling that said Virginia's Republican-led legislature unlawfully considered race when drawing U.S. congressional districts by packing black voters into one of them.

The court, down a justice following February's death of Antonin Scalia, ruled 8-0 against current and former Republican U.S. House of Representatives members who had challenged a June 2015 lower court ruling that threw out the district.

The court said the Republican lawmakers did not have legal standing to bring the case.

The focus of the case was on the composition of the majority-black House district held by Democrat Bobby Scott, the only black member of Virginia's congressional delegation.

The case is Wittman v. Personhuballah, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 14-1504.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham)