Virginia Democrats ask US supreme court to revive voter-approved electoral map | Virginia
Virginia Democrats asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to revive a congressional map designed to boost their party’s chances in the November midterm elections, turning to the court as Republicans — including Donald Trump’s allies — seek to preserve narrow control over Congress.
The case plunges Virginia into an unusual mid-decade redistricting showdown, as courts grapple with whether lawmakers can redo House districts outside of the normal post-census cycle — with control of a closely divided Congress potentially at stake.
On May 8, Virginia’s highest court rejected a new electoral map that was designed to flip four Republican seats in the U.S. Congress to Democrats, dashing Democrats’ hopes of winning back the House of Representatives. Republicans also hold a majority in the US Senate.
In a four-to-three decision, the Virginia Supreme Court rejected a Democratic-backed ballot measure approved by voters in April that reconfigured the map of the U.S. House of Representatives for a partisan advantage.
Ruling in favor of a Republican challenge, the Court’s majority found that Democratic lawmakers failed to follow proper procedure last year when they rushed to approve the referendum in time to reach the ballot before the November vote.
Virginia Democrats, led by Don Scott, the Democratic speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, told the justices in a filing that the state court’s decision had “deprived voters, candidates and the Commonwealth of their right to legally enacted congressional districts.”
The lawmakers cited a 2023 Supreme Court decision that warned that state courts “may not transgress the ordinary limits of judicial review so as to arrogate to themselves the power vested in state legislatures to regulate federal elections.”
In a process called redistricting, the boundaries of U.S. legislative districts are reconfigured to reflect demographic changes measured by the U.S. national census every 10 years. Redistricting is traditionally carried out by state legislatures at the start of each new decade.
In the unusual mid-decade redistricting fight, Republicans now hold a clear advantage. The tit-for-tat battle began last year when Trump pushed Texas Republicans to tear up their electoral map and draw new districts aimed at ceding up to five Democratic-held seats to Republicans.
Democrats suffered a major blow when the U.S. Supreme Court’s six-to-three conservative majority gutted a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, opening the door for Republican-led southern states to dismantle districts with majority black and Latino Democrats. Black and Latino voters tend to support Democratic candidates.
