WEDNESDAY MORNING UPDATE 10:15 A.M.: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit entered an order at 9:50 a.m. Wednesday denying a Democratic-aligned law firm’s longshot emergency motion to prevent Republican Del.-elect Bob Thomas from assuming the 28th District seat today. The three-judge panel did not provide a written ruling.
ORIGINAL STORY: Stafford County Republican Del.-elect Bob Thomas is poised to be sworn in Wednesday, the culmination of an error-tainted election that critics have challenged as fundamentally unfair.
As of Tuesday night, a federal appeals court had not ruled on a Democratic-aligned law firm’s longshot emergency motion to prevent Thomas from assuming the 28th District seat that represents parts of Fredericksburg and Stafford. Washington firm Perkins Coie made the appeal after a hearing Friday at which U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis declined to order a new election, despite revelations that at least 147 voters had been assigned to the wrong House district.
