Va. governor asks GOP to stop defending disputed House districts

(AP) – Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is asking Republican leaders in the House of Delegates to drop their legal defense of legislative district lines the U.S. Supreme Court ruled must be re-examined.

McAuliffe sent a letter Thursday to House Speaker William Howell and Majority Leader Kirk Cox asking them to settle a lawsuit over the 12 districts. The letter comes a day after the justices said a lower court must re-examine 11 of those districts, which Democrats say are unconstitutionally gerrymandered.

The governor says that a nonpartisan panel should draw new lines and that he'd call a special session to approve them.

He says the work can be finished before the fall, when every House seat is up for grabs.

A spokesman for Howell says Howell and Cox are reviewing the letter.