“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 for the court’s majority.
Late last week, Virginia’s conservative-dominated Supreme Court threw out Democrats’ redistricting initiative, with a slight majority of justices finding that liberal legislators had failed to follow proper procedure when redrawing electoral maps.
According to The Hill, the split 4-3 decision will eliminate the state’s new congressional map. The map, designed to provide Democrats with an advantage in the upcoming midterm election, was approved by Virginia voters in a statewide referendum. The proposal was made in response to President Donald Trump’s demand that conservative states gerrymander their own maps to ensure that the Republican Party retains its congressional majority after November.
If the results of the referendum had been upheld, the state’s new map would have given Democrats 10 seats in the House, leaving Republicans with a single district. The reversal means that Virginia must return to its old congressional map and its more equitable 6-5 split.
In overturning the vote, the court determined that Democrats failed to abide by constitutional requirements for redrawing electoral boundaries. If the Democrats had followed the proper procedures, the justices said, then the redistricting would have been valid.
“This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void,” Justice Arthur Kelsey wrote for the majority.
The Hill notes that legal challenges to the redistricting held that, in order to pass a redistricting-related amendment, legislators must first vote for it in two separate sessions with at least one election held in between.
Virginia Democrats took their first vote on October 31, 2025, arguing that it could still act because Election Day wasn’t until the following week.
The court, in contrast, found that proposal was submitted too late, as early voting was already underway.
“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 for the court’s majority.
In dissent, Chief Justice Cleo Powell argued that the court’s majority was proactively broadening the definition of an “election.”
“The majority’s definition creates an infinite voting loop that appears to have no established beginning, only a definitive end: Election Day,” Powell wrote.
Republican Party officials have since praised the majority ruling.
“Today, the Virginia Supreme Court sided with the rule of law and struck down Democrats’ unconstitutional maps,” Republican National Committee chairman Joe Gruters said in a statement. “The RNC led the charge in court against this blatant power grab, where Virginia Democrats poured more than $66 million into an effort to lock in control and silence voters. We took them to court, and we won.”
Virginia House Speaker Don Scott, a Democrat, promised to find a way to fight the ruling, saying that “no decision can erase what Virginians made clear at the ballot box.”
“We respect the court,” he said. “But we will keep fighting for a democracy where voters—not politicians—have the final say.”
Sources2.
Virginia Supreme Court strikes down gerrymandered maps in ‘massive’ loss for Dems’
Virginia Supreme Court throws out redistricting results in blow to Democrats
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