SCOTUS Denied VA Dems’ Attempt to Salvage Congressional Map Approved by Voters

Virginia’s Democratic attorney general, Jay Jones, said Friday night that he would redouble efforts to campaign on behalf of Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections following the US Supreme Court’s rejection of a request to restore a voter-approved congressional map.

Following the high court’s one-sentence denial of Democratic state officials’ petition for emergency relief, which they had filed to block the state Supreme Court’s ruling against a congressional map that passed via ballot measure last month, Jones said he would be “working tirelessly to support our Democratic candidates so we can win control of the House in spite of Republicans putting their thumbs on the scale.”

With no dissents noted, the Supreme Court said Friday evening that it was denying the request to block the Virginia high court’s ruling that had tossed out last month’s redistricting referendum.

The decision “leaves in place the deeply flawed ruling from the Supreme Court of Virginia, which overturned the results of a lawful election and erased the will of millions of Virginia voters,” said Jones.

It also served as “yet another profoundly troubling example of the continued national attack on voting rights and the rule of law by [President] Donald Trump, Republican state legislatures, and conservative courts,” said the attorney general.

The map that was narrowly approved by voters last month included four new Democratic-leaning US House districts in Virginia, putting the party on equal footing with Republicans nationally or potentially giving it an edge in a mid-decade redistricting battle that was kicked off last year. Trump has urged Republican state legislatures to redraw congressional districts to give the GOP more winnable seats in the US House — as the president’s economic policies and his deeply unpopular war on Iran as well as other military actions have pushed his approval rating to a low point for his second term ahead of the November midterms.

The redistricting fight was intensified late last month with the Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, which held that Louisiana must redraw its 2024 congressional map. The map had created a second majority-minority district in the state, whose population is one-third Black. The ruling effectively gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which allowed voters of color to challenge racially discriminatory electoral maps in court.

After the ruling, Louisiana’s Republican governor, Jeff Landry, suspended the state’s primary elections to allow the Republican-controlled legislature to redraw the congressional map, throwing out roughly 45,000 votes that had already been cast.

In the Virginia case, the US Supreme Court sided with the state’s high court, which had found earlier this month that Virginia’s Democratic legislature improperly began the process of placing an amendment to the state constitution after early voting in last fall’s election was underway. The amendment cleared the way for Democrats to redraw the map, and the General Assembly approved the amendment days before the election.

Virginia voters then approved the redrawn map in April, only to have the state Supreme Court strike it down.

In filing their emergency petition with the US Supreme Court, Virginia Democrats argued the ruling had undermined the will of the residents who had voted for the referendum in April.

Jones added in his statement that “Donald Trump, Republican state legislatures, and conservative courts are systematically and unabashedly tilting power away from the people for Trump’s political gain. Just this past month in Louisiana, Tennessee, and South Carolina, they have redrawn their maps and diluted Black political representation because it threatens their hold on power.”

“This attack is not subtle,” said the attorney general. “It is a coordinated effort to stack the deck in the Republicans’ favor before the midterms, lock in political advantage, and make it harder for voters, especially Black voters and communities of color, to hold Trump and his allies accountable. There can be no doubt: Trump and his allies want only their most politically extreme supporters to have their voices heard in Washington. The Supreme Court of Virginia’s previous decision and today’s refusal by the United States Supreme Court to act are only bolstering these extreme MAGA voices.”

Addressing Virginia voters, Jones added, “This fight is far from over, and I am committed to fighting alongside you.”