The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Virginia Democrats’ final push for redistricting Friday ahead of the 2026 national midterm elections. Amidst a nationwide grab for more congressional seats, Virginia’s pre-gerrymandered 6-5 congressional map — not its 10-1 map approved by voters in a special election April 21 — will remain in effect come November’s midterm elections.
Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones had filed an emergency request Monday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to pause the Virginia Supreme Court’s Friday ruling that nullified the voter-approved redistricting amendment. The pause would have allowed the Commonwealth’s 10-1 Democrat-favored congressional maps to be used for the 2026 midterm elections while the appeal was pending.
The one-sentence response by the U.S. Supreme Court in Scott v. McDougle — typical for such rulings — did not provide reasoning nor vote counts for the justices’ decision, and no dissents were noted. The justices declined to overturn the Virginia Supreme Court’s May 8 ruling that originally shut down redistricting after April’s referendum vote.
“Application (25A1240) for stay presented to The Chief Justice and by him referred to the Court is denied,” the Supreme Court’s docket read in its most recent update to its proceedings and orders.
In the Virginia Supreme Court’s May 8 ruling, justices found that the General Assembly did not follow proper procedure in advancing the redistricting amendment. Specifically, the Virginia Constitution requires an amendment to pass through both chambers twice, with an intervening House of Delegates election between the two votes.
The ruling argues this requirement was not met because early voting for the “intervening” House of Delegates election was already underway when the General Assembly first approved the amendment Oct. 31. As a result of the May 8 ruling, the existing 6-5 Congressional map was to remain in place ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
In Jones’ request three days after the ruling, he said the ruling was incorrect on two counts. First, the request said the ruling misinterpreted the meaning of “election” under federal law, which would determine whether the intervening election was valid. Second, Jones argued the state court overstepped its bounds — the state legislature, the request argued, has the authority to set rules for federal elections.
Regarding the U.S. Supreme Court decision, Jones released a statement on the Office of the Attorney General website condemning the rejection Friday evening.
“Today’s one-sentence denial from the Supreme Court of the United States is yet another profoundly troubling example of the continued national attack on voting rights and the rule of law by Donald Trump, Republican state legislators and conservative courts,” the statement read. “It leaves in place the deeply flawed ruling from the Supreme Court of Virginia, which overturned the results of a lawful election and erased the will of millions of Virginia voters.”
States with currently pending redistricting efforts ahead of the November midterms include Tennessee, Florida, Missouri, Illinois and California.
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