The U.S. Supreme Court refused to allow Virginia to use a congressional map approved by voters in April, leaving in place a Virginia ruling that voided the Democrats’ plan over state constitutional procedure. The decision adds fuel to an ongoing emergency redi
When Virginia Democrats pushed a new congressional map to the ballot in April, they told voters they were answering a Republican redistricting wave triggered by President Trump. But days later, the U.S. Supreme Court stepped back from letting that plan take effect.
On Friday. the Supreme Court refused to allow Virginia to use a new congressional map that favored Democrats in all but one of the state’s U.S.. House seats.. The map was drafted by Democrats and approved by Virginia voters in an April referendum.. Yet on May 8. the Supreme Court of Virginia. in a 4-to-3 vote. declared the referendum—and the map built on it—null and void.. The state court said lawmakers had failed to follow required procedures to get the issue on the ballot. violating the state constitution.
Virginia Democrats and the state’s attorney general then turned to Washington, filing an appeal to the U.S.. Supreme Court and asking the justices to put the map into effect.. In their emergency application. they argued the Virginia Supreme Court was “deeply mistaken” on “critical issues of federal law with profound practical importance to the Nation.” They also said the state ruling “overrode the will of the people” by ordering Virginia to “conduct its election with the congressional districts that the people rejected.”
Republican legislators opposed that push, arguing it would be improper for the U.S. Supreme Court to enter what they characterized as a dispute governed by state law. They emphasized that Democrats had not raised any federal claims in the lower court.
The U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Republicans without explanation, leaving the Virginia Supreme Court’s decision in place. That means the Democratic-friendly map will not be used for Virginia’s congressional elections under the plan voters approved.
The refusal is the latest turn in a high-stakes pattern for emergency requests involving redistricting.. In December. the high court approved Texas using a gerrymandered map that could help the GOP win five more seats in the U.S.. House.. In February, it allowed California to use a voter-approved, Democratic-friendly map designed to offset Texas’s plan.. Then in March. the Supreme Court blocked the redrawing of a New York map expected to flip a Republican congressional district to Democrats.
But in April. the Supreme Court issued a decision of a different kind: it ruled that a Louisiana congressional map was a racial gerrymander and must be redrawn.. The ruling immediately triggered a flurry of redistricting across the South. where Republican legislators began redrawing congressional maps to eliminate long established majority Black and Hispanic districts.
United States Supreme Court Virginia redistricting congressional map Democratic-friendly districts Supreme Court of Virginia emergency appeal April referendum attorney general state constitution Texas map California map New York map Louisiana racial gerrymander