On Friday, Virginia’s Supreme Court struck down an effort by Democrats to violate the state’s constitution in order to turn the state’s congressional map from a one-district advantage to a 10-1 Democrat dominance.
"We hold that the legislative process employed to advance this proposal violated Article XII, Section 1 of the Constitution of Virginia," the Virginia Supreme Court explains in its 4-3 ruling. "This constitutional violation incurably taints the resulting referendum vote and nullifies its legal efficacy."
"This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void," the court said in its opinion.
The court found that the legislature failed to comply with procedural rules for passing a constitutional amendment, including failing to publish the amendment three months before the election and taking a second vote while early voting was already occurring, rather than waiting for an intervening election.
"This was a clear violation of the Constitution — that’s why the RNC stepped in to stop Democrats’ rigged maps and WON!" Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Joe Gruters posted on X.com, declaring the decision a “HUGE WIN FOR ELECTION INTEGRITY.”
Under the leadership of Democrat Governor Abigail Spanberger, Democrats had replaced the current bipartisan commission to create a legislature-controlled map for the 2026 midterm elections, then used a special election ballot to narrowly gain approval of the lopsided map.
"The Supreme Court Ruling today affirms what we all know: you cannot violate the Constitution to change the Constitution," Virginia Senate Republican Leader Ryan McDougle said. “Every Virginian wins” because of the ruling, McDougle explained, noting the decision was based on constitutional, not partisan, concerns.
Friday’s ruling appears to be the death knell for Democrats’ efforts to ignore the state’s constitution to gerrymander districts overwhelmingly in their favor.
The state supreme court’s ruling on its own state’s constitution is final – unless Democrats can convince the U.S. Supreme to take up the case because the decision raises a federal question.
