A Friday ruling by the Supreme Court of Virginia that nullified the April 21 redistricting referendum is being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Virginia Attorney Gen. Jay Jones and other state officials made an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, arguing that Friday’s ruling by the state supreme court was flawed and that voters’ approval of a referendum on April 21 redrawing the state’s congressional districts should stand.
Voters approved a state constitutional amendment that would have temporarily redrawn the state’s 11 congressional district in such a way that could have increased the number of Democrats in Virginia’s congressional delegation from six to 10.
The state supreme court on Friday struck down the referendum, finding that proper procedures to amend the state constitution had not been followed. In Virginia, a state constitutional amendment must be passed by the General Assembly twice, with a statewide election occurring in between. The court found that the initial passage by the General Assembly that occurred during a special session in October came too late because early voting had already started in the 2025 statewide election.
In their emergency appeal of the state supreme court ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, Virginia officials argued that federal law defines a single day for an election, not to include early voting, so that the first passage of the state constitutional amendment by the General Assembly preceded the actual election.
However, if the U.S. Supreme Court doesn’t acquiesce to the appeal, the state’s congressional districts will stay as they have for the past two elections. Under this scenario, while gerrymandering proceeds apace elsewhere, it won’t be happening here in Virginia.
The effect of the ruling locally is that Rockbridge County, Buena Vista and Lexington would remain in the Sixth Congressional District which is currently represented by Republican Congressman Ben Cline. If the redistricting map approved by voters in the April 21 referendum election had taken effect, the Rockbridge area’s three jurisdictions would have moved into the Ninth Congressional District, currently represented by Republican Congressman Morgan Griffith.
Gerrymandering efforts in other states that began last year when Texas redrew its congressional districts to favor that state’s majority Republican Party are continuing. The pace actually has picked up following a U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling that struck down a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that allowed race to be considered in drawing up legislative districts.
