Virginia’s leadership has vowed to challenge a state Supreme Court ruling issued Friday that overturned a Democratic-backed redistricting referendum.
In a statement, Democratic state Attorney General Jay Jones condemned the court’s decision, calling it an act of putting “politics over the rule of law.”
“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,”
Jones added, “My team is carefully reviewing this unprecedented order and we are evaluating every legal pathway forward to defend the will of the people and protect the integrity of Virginia’s elections.”
Senator Tim Kaine criticized the timing of the ruling, stating:
“If the Virginia Supreme Court had legitimate concerns about this referendum, the time to stop it would have been before three million Virginians cast their ballots.
The U.S. Supreme Court eviscerates the Voting Rights Act in a lawsuit brought by a January 6 extremist and Southern states race to craft backroom deals disenfranchising minority voters and candidates. Meanwhile Virginia voters choose to stand up against national disenfranchisement only to see their votes cast into the trash by a 4–3 ruling,” Kaine continued.
Meanwhile, Republican-led states across the country continue to gerrymander following former President Donald Trump’s demand for mid-decade redistricting and the Supreme Court’s gutting of the Voting Rights Act last week. Most of those actions took or are taking place without state referendums, effectively forcing through new congressional maps that disenfranchise Democrats and Black Americans.
Polling expert Zachary Donnini of VoteHub projected that, absent further court orders, nine Republican-led states will have successfully redrawn their maps this year, compared to just one Democratic-led state. Donnini noted that, thanks to a conservative-controlled Supreme Court, the GOP is “stacking the deck and denying Black people representation.”
Related articles
Republicans Are Running A Fake Democratic Campaign In Texas (w/ Johnny Garcia)
Tim Miller is joined by Johnny Garcia, a Democrat running in Texas’s 35th Congressional District, where a closely watched runoff on May 26 could help...
S. Ct. Denies Stay of Virginia Supreme Court's Redistricting Referendum Decision
Today's order is here; the application that was denied is here. The state's argument for a stay, which the Court rejected, begins thus: Days before Vi...
These Politicians Want To Tax the Rich. But Why Do They Seem To Despise Them?
Our politics have been analogized to Veep. A more apt comparison some days is that we are living in a cartoon. Every good cartoon needs a supervillain...
Andrew Weissmann: Is Trump Going To Raid Fort Knox Next?
If the IRS goes ahead and gives in to Donald Trump's demands for a MAGA slush fund, it would be outright theft of the public's money and corruption on...
Vladeck v. Adler on the Shadow Docket
Last week, I recorded a We the People podcast episode for the National Constitution Center discussing the increased volume of applications and orders...
The GOP Is Fuming After the Pentagon Abruptly Pulls Back from Europe
Republicans are furious with the Trump administration after its decision to cease all troop deployment to longtime U.S.-ally Poland. The decision is t...
Virginia's New 'Assault Firearm' Ban Is Plainly Unconstitutional, a Federal Lawsuit Argues
Last month, Virginia became the 12th state to enact an "assault weapon" ban, which Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed into law on April 13. That new law i...
Thomas Massie's Enemies Are Attacking Him With an Unfair Accusation
Rep. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.) is fighting for his political life. Next week, voters in his district will decide whether to retain the long-serving libert...