Supreme Court preserves favorable legislative map for Virginia Democrats

Virginia Democrats scored a victory Monday at the Supreme Court in a case about racial gerrymandering in the state. The court's ruling was largely procedural, but the practical upshot is to leave in place a legislative map that's relatively favorable to Democrats. It replaced a map that was thrown out for discriminating against black voters.

Why it matters: The court is set to rule later this month on a question it has never answered: Whether gerrymandering for purely partisan purposes can ever go too far. Monday's ruling doesn't have any direct implications for those cases, but Democrats are happy for any victory, however small, in any gerrymandering suit.