Virginia Supreme Court judges on Monday questioned whether the state’s Democratic-led legislature complied with constitutional requirements when it sent a congressional redistricting plan to voters, in a case that carries high stakes for the balance of power in the U.S. House.
A Republican challenge to the redistricting plan, which could net Democrats four additional seats and won narrow voter approval last week, contends that the General Assembly violated procedural rules by placing the constitutional amendment before voters to authorize mid-decade redistricting. If the court agrees that lawmakers broke the rules, it could invalidate the amendment and render last week’s statewide vote meaningless.
According to unofficial results from the April 21 special election, more than 1.59 million votes (51.62%) supported the amendment and more than 1.49 million (48.38%) opposed it. In Alexandria, 78.95% of votes supported redistricting.
The redrawn congressional districts presented by General Assembly Democrats could give the party a 10-1 advantage in the Nov. 3 midterm elections. Virginia’s delegation currently includes six Democrats — Reps. Bobby Scott (D-3), Jennifer McClellan (D-4), Eugene Vindman (D-7), Don Beyer (D-8), Suhas Subramanyam (D-10) and James Walkinshaw (D-11) — and five Republicans — Rob Wittman (R-1), Jen Kiggans (R-2), John McGuire (R-5), Ben Cline (R-6) and Morgan Griffith (R-9).
Based on the partisan leanings of the redrawn districts, only the 9th Congressional District is predicted to remain Republican after the midterms, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
Alexandria would remain in the 8th Congressional District. Neighboring Arlington, however, would be split between the 7th and 8th districts, and Fairfax County would fall into five districts.
On Monday, Virginia Supreme Court judges focused on whether the new districts should be invalidated because of the process used by lawmakers.
Because the state’s redistricting commission was established by a voter-approved constitutional amendment, lawmakers had to propose an amendment to redraw the districts. That required approval of a resolution in two separate legislative sessions, with a state election sandwiched in between, to place the amendment on the ballot.
The legislature’s first vote occurred last October — while early voting was underway but before it concluded on the day of the general election. Judicial questioning focused on whether that was too late, because early voting already had begun.
Attorney Matthew Seligman, who defended the legislature, argued that the “election” should be defined narrowly to mean the Tuesday of the general election. In that case, the legislature’s first vote on the redistricting amendment occurred before the election and was constitutional, he said.
But an attorney arguing for the plaintiffs, Thomas McCarthy, said “election” means the entire period during which people can cast ballots, which lasts several weeks in Virginia. If that’s the case, then the legislature’s initial endorsement on the redistricting amendment came too late to comply with the state constitution, he said.
In January, a judge in rural Tazewell County, in southwestern Virginia, ruled that lawmakers failed to follow their own rules for adding the redistricting amendment to a special session last fall. Circuit Judge Jack Hurley Jr. also ruled that lawmakers failed to initially approve the amendment before the public began voting in last year’s general election and that the state had failed to publish the amendment three months before the election, as required by law. As a result, he said, the amendment is invalid and void.
The Virginia Supreme Court placed Hurley’s order on hold and allowed the redistricting vote to proceed before hearing arguments on the case. Republicans have filed at least two additional legal challenges, which also are winding their way through the courts.
The Virginia court proceedings mark the latest twist in a national redistricting battle between Republicans and Democrats seeking an advantage in a November election that will determine whether Republicans maintain their narrow majority in the U.S. House.
President Donald Trump kicked off a tit-for-tat round of gerrymandering last summer when he urged Texas Republicans to redraw districts to their favor in an attempt to win several additional House seats. That set off a chain reaction of similar moves in other states, leading to the voter approval last week of Virginia’s new map.
Next up is Florida, where Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has included congressional redistricting on the agenda for a special session of the GOP-controlled Legislature beginning Tuesday.
