Supreme court rejects Virginia Democrats’ bid to restore congressional map | Virginia
The high court on Friday rejected Virginia’s bid to remake a congressional map that would have given Democrats a chance to pick up four seats in the closely divided House of Representatives.
The court’s decision, issued without dissent, is the latest development in the nation’s mid-decade redistricting competition. This campaign, which began last year when Donald Trump called on Republican-controlled states to redraw their borders, was further strengthened by a recent supreme court decision that severely weakened the Voting Rights Act, which opened up even more winnable seats for the Republican party.
In recent days, the justices sided with Republicans in Alabama and Louisiana, who had hoped to redo congressional maps to create more Republican-leaning seats in the wake of the court’s voting rights ruling.
But the situation in Virginia was different; Because of the Virginia Supreme Court’s 4-3 decision last month that struck down the constitutional amendment that voters narrowly passed.
The state court concluded that the Democrat-controlled legislature improperly began the process of putting the amendment on the ballot after early voting began in Virginia’s general election last fall.
The supreme court generally does not intervene in state court proceedings unless it raises a question of federal law. Virginia Democrats were hoping to convince the justices that the Virginia court had misread federal law and the high court’s precedent that no election would be held until Election Day, even if early voting was ongoing.
Virginia’s amendment was intended to respond to Republican gains in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio and to blunt the new map enacted in Florida. Once passed, the Virginia amendment briefly turned the nationwide redistricting fight into a draw between the two parties.
This situation emerged with the decision of the Virginia Supreme Court.
It’s possible that Democrats could use the high court’s rejection of their proposals while celebrating Republican efforts in Alabama and Louisiana in their election-year message about a partisan high court.
The state’s top Democrats disagreed on whether it was too late to get help from the high court. “Time is running out, but it is not too late,” attorneys for the legislature and the state’s Democratic leaders told the justices in a brief filed Friday.
A day earlier, Democratic governor Abigail Spanberger’s office had already confirmed that the state would hold this year’s elections under existing districts created in 2021. Last month, Virginia elections commissioner Steve Koski said a court order was needed last Tuesday to set district boundaries for the Aug. 4 primary.
The leader of the state’s Republican party said the justices made the right decision. “Wisely, the United States Supreme Court affirmed the Virginia Supreme Court’s decision,” state party chairman Jeff Ryer said. “This should stop once and for all Democrats’ efforts to disenfranchise half of Virginia.”
