Dems’ Virginia Court-Packing Plan Is A Preview Of What They’ll Do To SCOTUS After Retaking Power

That’s the strategy Democrats are looking to embrace after the Virginia Supreme Court slapped down their illegal efforts to gerrymander the commonwealth in their favor ahead of the 2026 midterms. The state’s high court found (4-3) that the Democrat-run General Assembly violated the Virginia Constitution by bypassing procedural requirements necessary for the redistricting amendment to appear on the state’s April ballot.

Not content with accepting defeat, Democrats are exploring ways to resurrect their failed gerrymandering gambit ahead of the 2026 elections, The New York Times reported over the weekend. Democrats’ brainstorming session included one “audacious” and “possibly far-fetched” idea that involves packing the Virginia Supreme Court with new Democrat appointees. Floated on a purported phone call between U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Virginia Democrat House leaders, the proposal involves the Virginia General Assembly and Democrat Gov. Abigail Spanberger approving legislation that would lower the retirement age for state Supreme Court justices.

According to the Times, after undertaking a series of legal actions that seek to tee up the redistricting amendment for additional court review, the state legislature would then pass a bill “lowering the mandatory retirement age for Virginia’s Supreme Court from 75 to 54, the age of the youngest current justice, or less.” Given that the General Assembly possesses the power to appoint justices to the state’s high court, this means that Democrats would be able to replace every single justice currently serving on the Virginia Supreme Court “with sympathetic Democratic lawyers.”

While unlikely to advance in time to have any effect on the 2026 midterms, the radical plan, as reported by the Times, indicates how far Democrats are willing to go in the name of power. More to the point, however, it’s also an omen for what their party plans to do to the U.S. Supreme Court should they retake trifecta control of the federal government.

Democrats have not been shy about their vociferous support for packing SCOTUS with left-wing activists whose primary objective would be ruling on issues in their favor.

While prominent during Joe Biden’s presidency, leftist calls to pack the court recently resurfaced after the justices released their Louisiana v. Callais decision crippling states’ ability to engage in racial gerrymandering. Among those to telegraph support for the policy was Jeffries, who said that “everything is on the table” should he win the speaker’s gavel after the 2026 contests.

“The Supreme Court is a disgrace. And then, in the new Congress, we’re gonna have to do something about the Supreme Court,” Jeffries said. “And let me be very clear: Everything is on the table — everything — to deal with this corrupt MAGA majority that is issuing political opinions that are designed to bolster the prospects of the Republican Party. And we will not allow them to succeed.”

In her new bestselling book, Alito: The Justice Who Reshaped the Supreme Court and Restored the Constitution, Federalist-Editor-In-Chief Mollie Hemingway traces Democrats’ open embrace of court-packing back to how the high court previously served as the left’s vehicle for sidestepping the traditional amendment process. She notes how, dating back to years of Chief Justice Earl Warren, SCOTUS “had functioned as a super-legislature, enacting the Left’s policies by a majority vote of justices, no matter what the Constitution said.”

“The Left had come to view the Court as its rightful property and would not cede control willingly,” Hemingway writes.

With the Supreme Court now no longer available as an avenue of power, the left has set its sights on destroying the last functioning institution in America by any means necessary. The reported plan to pack the Virginia Supreme Court is further proof of that and shows the destruction Democrats will sow once they’ve reclaimed the levers of federal power.

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Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics and RealClearHealth. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood