Virginia Republicans’ effort to thwart a redraw of their state's congressional map was dealt a massive blow on Friday, when the state Supreme Court ruled that a ballot measure to suspend the state's independent redistricting commission can proceed.
Republicans—who are butthurt that Democrats are countering the GOP's gerrymandering efforts—had sued in an attempt to block the ballot measure from going before voters. They are desperate to thwart a redraw that could cause as many as four of the state's five House Republicans to lose their seats.
At first, a lower-court judge appointed by a former GOP governor had sided with Republicans, blocking the referendum from moving forward. However, Democrats appealed that ruling, and the state Supreme Court on Friday sided with the Democratic-controlled state legislature on giving Virginians the chance to vote on the redistricting measure in April.
The state Supreme Court wrote of the GOP's lawsuit:
Plaintiffs' Motion at its core, requests the Court to invade the province of the Legislature prior to the final actions of the Legislature. For well over a century, the courts of the Commonwealth have recognized a bedrock principle that amending the Constitution is a process left exclusively to the sound judgment of the Legislature that proposes amendments and the citizens that ratify or reject them. ... In the Separation of Power doctrine established by the U.S. Constitution as well as the Constitution of Virginia, the Court's role in these situations is limited to scrutinizing the Constitutionality of any action of the Legislature is at the conclusion of the act, not in the process thereof.
Democrats hailed the ruling.
"After the state Supreme Court's order today, Virginia Democrats are now one referendum vote away from a 10-1 congressional map. I suspect the GOP is trying to figure out how to file a new lawsuit or concoct a theory for SCOTUS. Both will fail," Marc Elias, a Democratic lawyer who is defending the referendum, wrote in a post on X. "A big win!"
Democrats are confident that Virginians will back the referendum. President Donald Trump is deeply unpopular in the state, and the Democratic Party has had dominating performances in last year’s gubernatorial and legislative races.
What’s more, Democrats expressed confidence that even when the state Supreme Court hears a challenge to the ballot referendum after Virginians vote, they will come out victorious.
"The Virginia Supreme Court could wait until after an expensive statewide campaign, then overrule the will of millions of Virginia voters on narrow technical grounds," Aaron Fritschner, a top aide to Democratic Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia, wrote in a post on X. “They have the legal authority, they could! You could also legally convert all your assets to nickels. You could!”
The Utah State Capitol, in Salt Lake City.
This is not the first time Republicans have failed to thwart Democrats' aggressive countermeasures to the gerrymandering war Trump started.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to take up a challenge from the Department of Justice to stop California's redistricting plan, which is expected to boot as many as five Republicans from Congress.
And Utah Republicans are caught up in a wild fraud scandal as they try to thwart a redrawn map that gives Democrats a safe seat in Utah's four-member congressional delegation.
Beehive State Republicans are trying to put up a ballot measure that repeals the anti-gerrymandering law that led Democrats to gain a seat in the state. But thousands of signatures for the referendum appear to be fraudulent, which could prevent the measure from making it to the ballot. Hey, Republicans, we found some probable voter fraud for you!
Ultimately, Republicans are simply mad that Democrats didn't sit back and let them redraw GOP-controlled states' maps to try to rig the midterm elections in their favor.
But their whining and lawsuits are going nowhere.
At the end of the day, Trump's gerrymandering push could come back to bite him in the ass, with Democrats potentially netting more seats than Republicans in the mid-decade redraw fight.
Good.
