The Supreme Court on Friday declined to intervene in Virginia's redistricting chaos, handing Republicans a victory in the ongoing national scramble to redraw congressional lines before the 2024 elections.
The justices issued their order without noted dissent, rejecting Virginia Democrats' plea to overturn a state court decision that killed a voter-approved constitutional amendment designed to reshape the state's congressional map. The amendment would have given Democrats a realistic shot at picking up four House seats in an evenly divided chamber.
The dispute hinged on a technical but crucial timing question. Virginia's state Supreme Court had invalidated the amendment last month, ruling that the Democratic-controlled legislature improperly initiated the ballot measure after early voting had already begun in the general election. The state justices concluded that violated election law.
Democrats argued the U.S. Supreme Court should weigh in, claiming the Virginia court misunderstood federal law and Supreme Court precedent on when elections legally occur. They contended that early voting doesn't change the fundamental fact that Election Day is still the operative date. In a Friday brief, lawyers representing the state's Democratic legislative leaders insisted time remained to fix the problem, though the margin was razor-thin.
The state's Democratic governor, Abigail Spanberger, had already accepted reality. Her office confirmed Wednesday that Virginia will conduct this year's elections using the 2021 districts. The state's election commissioner had set a Tuesday deadline for any court order to establish primary election lines for the August 4 voting date, making a quick Supreme Court intervention essentially impossible.
The decision fits into a broader pattern of the Court favoring Republican redistricting efforts in recent weeks. Just days earlier, the justices sided with Republican challengers in Alabama and Louisiana who seek to redraw maps for more GOP advantage following a major Supreme Court ruling that gutted key protections in the Voting Rights Act.
Virginia Democrats had hoped their amendment would stabilize the national redistricting wars, which intensified after Donald Trump called on Republican-controlled states to redraw their lines. The Voting Rights Act decision then supercharged the GOP's ability to create Republican-friendly districts across the South and beyond. The Virginia map overhaul would have brought some equilibrium, at least temporarily, after Republican gains in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, and Florida.
State Republican Party Chair Jeff Ryer hailed the outcome. "Wisely, the Supreme Court of the United States has confirmed the judgment of the Supreme Court of Virginia," he said, while accusing Democrats of trying "to disenfranchise half of Virginia."
Democrats are likely to weaponize the contradiction for campaign messaging: the same Court that blessed Republican map-making in Alabama and Louisiana refused to give them a hearing in Virginia, painting a portrait of judicial partiality in a critical election year.
Author James Rodriguez: "The Court's silent rejection here speaks volumes, especially when paired with its cheerleading for GOP redistricting in other states."
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