The 3rd District includes portions of Richmond, Petersburg, Portsmouth, Newport News and Norfolk. Parts of the district are disconnected by the James River and the Chesapeake Bay.

Scott, who has represented the 3rd District since 1993, said in a statement that he was not part of the suit, but he noted that during redistricting after the 2010 census he had backed Locke’s plan “which made all congressional districts in the commonwealth more compact and contiguous,” he said.

“I hope and expect the General Assembly will more equitably and appropriately balance the influence of all Virginia’s voters, as mandated by this decision, when they redraw the 3rd Congressional District and adjacent congressional districts next session,” Scott said.

The implications are “potentially pretty dramatic,” said Quentin Kidd, a political analyst at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, who envisions the largest impact in Hampton Roads.

“They’re going to have to pull 40,000 to 45,000 African-American voters out of the 3rd District,” he said. The court found that packing a district racially is impermissible, so “they’re going to have to unpack it,” by distributing those voters in surrounding districts.