Virginia Supreme Court tosses out congressional map that favored Democrats

Washington — The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday tossed out a congressional redistricting referendum passed by Virginia voters last month, striking a blow to Democrats hoping to gain a more favorable map and increase their number of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

The decision overturns voters' approval of a new congressional map that would have given Democrats an advantage in 10 House districts, leaving just one safe Republican seat. Although both of Virginia's U.S. senators are Democrats, its House delegation is split with six Democratic representatives and five Republicans. 

"We hold that the legislative process employed to advance this proposal violated Article XII, Section 1 of the Constitution of Virginia," the opinion says. The court found that the commonwealth had "submitted a proposed constitutional amendment to Virginia voters in an unprecedented manner that violated the intervening-election requirement." 

"This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void," the court ruled.

Under Virginia law, before a constitutional amendment can be put before the voters, it must be approved by the General Assembly twice, with an election for the House of Delegates between the two votes.

In this case, the court noted, voting in the general election for the House of Delegates began on Sept. 19, 2025, and ended on Election Day, on Nov. 4, 2025. The General Assembly's vote on proposing the redistricting amendment to Virginia voters took place on Oct. 31, and by then, about 40% — or more than 1.3 million Virginians — had already cast their ballots.

The court determined that the redistricting amendment process in this case deprived those 1.3 million voters of their constitutionally protected "opportunity to elect the House of Delegates that will participate in the second legislative vote on the proposed amendment." 

In a court filing Friday evening, attorneys for Democratic Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates Don Scott said that Democratic state leaders intended to file an emergency petition to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Virginia Senate Republican Leader Ryan T. McDougle praised the court's decision in Scott v. McDougle.

"The Supreme Court ruling today affirms what we all know: you cannot violate the Constitution to change the Constitution," McDougle said. "The justices of the Supreme Court of Virginia after careful and thorough review of this matter affirmed that even the General Assembly must follow the law."

Scott said, "We respect the decision of the Supreme Court of Virginia. I'm proud that Virginians came out in historic numbers, made their voices heard, and sent a message not just here at home — but across the country — to Donald Trump and his administration."

For his part, President Trump praised the decision as a "huge win for the Republican Party, and America, in Virginia."

A number of states are trying to reconfigure their congressional maps after Texas in 2025 attempted to redistrict to be more favorable to Republicans. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, then announced the Golden State would try to reshape its map in response. Since then, both red and blue states have taken to their state legislatures to redistrict.

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia alluded to the nationwide redistricting fight in a statement following the court decision. 

"Unlike GOP-led states that redrew their congressional maps in backroom deals, Virginia let the people decide," he said. "But the Virginia Supreme Court has blocked the people's choice. So we have to campaign and win on their maps. We can do it!"