Virginia’s Top Court Blocks Democrats’ New Congressional Map (1)

The Virginia Supreme Court blocked a new congressional map approved by state voters that was poised to help Democrats gain additional US House seats, giving Republicans an important victory after a year of redistricting efforts had largely ended in a stalemate.

The state’s highest court ruled on Friday that the legislature’s process for pursuing the new map violated Virginia’s Constitution and ordered that an earlier version be used in the upcoming midterm elections.

The decision marks a significant milestone in an escalating effort by Republicans and Democrats to maximize partisan advantages ahead of the November vote by redrawing congressional districts. The Democrat-led Virginia plan came in response to a redistricting effort by Republicans supported by President Donald Trump that started in Texas last year.

In a 4-3 decision, the court concluded that the Virginia legislature failed to comply with a requirement that a state general election take place in between two votes by lawmakers to adopt a constitutional amendment. Early voting was already underway when lawmakers met in October, and a majority of the justices found that meant the second vote earlier this year failed to satisfy the rules.

The state’s constitution purposefully “slow-walks” the amendment process to give voters an opportunity during the “intervening” period to weigh in, Justice D. Arthur Kelsey wrote for the majority. The court rejected Democrats’ stance that the legislature’s process was valid because the first vote happened before the formal election day in November.

Justice D. Arthur Kelsey

Photographer: Mike Kropf/Getty Images

“While the Commonwealth is free by its lights to do the right thing for the right reason, the Rule of Law requires that it be done the right way,” Kelsey wrote.

The panel upheld a ruling from a Tazewell County judge who sided with Republican state lawmakers and declared the redistricting effort unlawful. Democratic state officials could next ask the US Supreme Court to intervene on an emergency basis. In recent months, the US justices allowed new congressional maps to remain in effect in Texas and later in California for the midterm election.

Read More: Virginia’s Top Court Weighs GOP Bid to Block Redistricting

It’s unusual for states to redraw maps in the middle of a decade because they are usually changed in response to the US Census. However, Texas last year approved revised political boundaries as Republicans explored options to keep their slim majority in the House, prompting other states to consider similar action.

The broader redistricting war started last year with Republicans in Texas and Missouri, followed by Democrats in California and Virginia, then Republicans in Florida, and could ultimately see a dozen states compose partisan maps before November.

The Virginia decision comes in the wake of the recent US Supreme Court ruling that weakened key provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. That has prompted Republicans in several southern states to try to redraw their maps in order to pick up a handful of seats in the November election.

Even with the Virginia decision and the moves to change voting boundaries by states including Tennessee and Alabama, some analysts said Democrats will remain favored to retake the House in November given voters’ souring views of the economy and the war in Iran.

In an online post, Trump praised the ruling as a “huge win for the Republican Party, and America.”

‘Political Environment’

The new GOP-friendly maps and the Virginia decision “can’t change the political environment,” according to Amy Walter at the Cook Political Report.

That said, the Virginia ruling will bolster Republicans and make it harder for the Democrats to get the 218 seats they need to control the House.

Sample ballots and voter information signs at a polling location inside Falls Church City Hall in Falls Church, Virginia on March 20.

Photographer: Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg

Virginia Republicans and the national party organization had filed multiple lawsuits challenging the way that Democrats carried out the constitutional referendum to adopt a revised map.

The Virginia litigation focused on whether the sequence of events leading up to the April 21 special election complied with the state constitution’s requirements for amendments. The Virginia Supreme Court heard arguments on April 27.

Chief Justice Cleo Powell dissented along with two of her colleagues, writing that the majority’s decision to include early voting in the meaning of “election” was “in direct conflict with how both Virginia and federal law define” the term.

Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones said in a statement that his office is “carefully reviewing this unprecedented order” and evaluating “every legal pathway forward to defend the will of the people and protect the integrity of Virginia’s elections.”

“Today the Supreme Court of Virginia has chosen to put politics over the rule of law by issuing a ruling that overturns the April 21st special election on redistricting,” Jones said. “This decision silences the voices of the millions of Virginians who cast their ballots in every corner of the Commonwealth, and it fuels the growing fears across our nation about the state of our democracy.”

A lead attorney for the Republican lawmakers who sued and a spokesperson for the state Senate Republican Caucus did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In a different case brought earlier by the Republican National Committee contesting the redistricting measure, a Richmond Circuit Court judge had denied the GOP’s request for an injunction in April, finding the party organization failed to show at an early stage of the case that they were likely to succeed.

Virginia’s congressional delegation features six Democrats and five Republicans. Under the new map, Republicans would be favored to win in only one district, meaning Democrats could pick up as many as four more seats.

The case is McDougle v. Scott, 260127, Virginia Supreme Court.

(Updates with details from the decision and background.)

--With assistance from Josh Wingrove and Steven T. Dennis.

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