The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday cast doubt on all three nominees put forth by Republican leadership to draw the state’s new congressional and legislative maps, disqualifying at least one of the three for a “conflict” due to his past paid work with the state’s GOP leadership.

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       After a bipartisan commission failed to reach agreement on new congressional and General Assembly districts, the state Supreme Court is redrawing the maps. Democratic and Republican leadership in the General Assembly can each offer nominees for the court to hire as special masters.

       But in a letter to the high court earlier this week, Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax) objected to all three GOP picks, calling them “political operatives” with conflicts of interest.

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       The court appeared to agree on Friday, ordering Republicans to submit at least three new nominees by Monday. The court also instructed Democrats to resubmit at least one additional nominee.

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       Justices will ultimately select two to serve as special masters, one nominated by each party.

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       The high court’s order specifically disqualified one GOP pick: Thomas Bryan, a statistician who owns a consulting firm that specializes in redistricting and demographics analytics. He was paid a $20,000 consulting fee by the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus in September, according to a campaign finance report cited in Saslaw’s letter.

       Republican leadership did not mention that paid redistricting work in their nomination — it was only highlighted in Saslaw’s letter — but Bryan himself “ultimately disclosed relevant information” during the selection process, the order said.

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       The high court “accepts his reputation as a qualified demographic expert” but said that Bryan’s work for the Senate Republican Caucus on the topic of redistricting “creates a conflict.”

       The nominees “will serve as officers of the Court in a quasi-judicial capacity,” the order said, so “the Special Masters must be neutral and must not act as advocates or representatives of any political party.”

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       The GOP’s two other nominees were Adam Kincaid, the executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust, and Adam Foltz, who has been working for the Texas House Redistricting Committee. The court expressed “concerns” about their ability to serve as special masters although it did not appear to disqualify them outright.

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       The court also said one of the Democratic picks — though it did not name which one — had “asserted a condition or reservation that suggests” they “may not be willing to serve” in line with part of the state law overseeing the process; that code requires them to work in together with the other special master.

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       Democrats have nominated three political science professors who have backgrounds serving as special masters for federal and state courts in redistricting cases.

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       Saslaw said in a brief phone interview on Friday that he did not know which of the party’s special master nominees the court had been referring to, although he said he was pleased with the order as a whole. “It’s not unexpected and they did the right thing,” he said.

       Party leaders in the General Assembly are required to submit their new nominees by 5 p.m. on Monday.

       This is a developing story and will be updated.

       Meagan Flynn contributed to this report.