VIRGINIA - The Virginia Supreme Court has stopped Democrats redistricting plan ahead of the midterm elections. The Associated Press reports that the court ruled 4-3 that the state’s Democratic-led legislature violated procedural requirements when it placed the constitutional amendment on the ballot to authorize the mid-decade redistricting.
The congressional redistricting plan was voter approved on April 21, but just barely. However, with this decision from the Virginia Supreme Court, those votes have become a moot point.
In response to the Supreme Court’s ruling, Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones said the decision puts politics ahead of the rule of law.
"This decision silences the voices of the millions of Virginians who cast their ballots in every corner of the Commonwealth, and it fuels the growing fears across our nation about the state of our democracy," said Jones. "The Republican-led majority of the Supreme Court of Virginia contorted the plain language the Constitution and Code of Virginia to give it a meaning that was never intended, which allowed them to reach the wrong legal conclusion that fit their political agenda. The consequences of their error are grave."
Democrats had hoped to win up to four additional U.S. House seats under Virginia’s redrawn U.S. House map in an attempt to offset Republican redistricting done elsewhere. That ruling, combined with a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision severely weakening the Voting Rights Act, has supercharged the Republicans’ congressional gerrymandering advantage heading into this year’s midterm elections, said AP.
Virginia currently is represented in the U.S. House by six Democrats and five Republicans who were elected from districts imposed by a court after a bipartisan redistricting commission failed to agree on a map after the 2020 census. AP said the new districts could have given Democrats an improved chance to win all but one of the state’s 11 congressional seats.
The Republican-led majority of the Supreme Court of Virginia contorted the plain language the Constitution and Code of Virginia to give it a meaning that was never intended, which allowed them to reach the wrong legal conclusion that fit their political agenda. The consequences of their error are grave.
