What the Court Did
On 5/8/26, the Virginia Supreme Court voided Democrats’ drive to gerrymander the state’s U.S. House districts before the 2026 election. Democrats wished to scrap the nonpartisan map drawn after the 2020 Census in favor of a highly partisan, geographically incoherent map aimed at changing the state’s delegation from 6 Democrats and 5 Republicans to 10 Democrats and 1 Republican—in a state that cast 46% of its 2024 votes for Donald Trump and whose governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general were Republicans until earlier this year. Nonpartisan, decennial redistricting is enshrined in the State Constitution, so partisan, mid-decade redistricting requires an amendment. The Court held that in rushing to redistrict, Democrats violated the constitutionally mandated amendment process—fatally tainting the effort.
What Virginia's 1971 Constitution Aims to Prevent
Like the U.S. Constitution, the 1971 Virginia Constitution makes the amendment process lengthy and difficult. No passing amendments over cocktails and/or asking the voters to endorse them the next day. An amendment requires a four-step, multi-year process, and the Court ruled that Democrats failed at STEP 2—thereby denying 40% of the state’s voters a chance to signal support or opposition last Fall.
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