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UPDATED: Virginia Supreme Court strikes down Democrats’ redrawn US House maps

By The Associated Press
Voters at Mount Vernon Recreation Center in Del Ray on Election Day, Nov. 4, 2025 (staff photo by James Cullum)

The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday struck down a voter-approved Democratic congressional redistricting plan, delivering another major setback to the party in a nationwide battle against Republicans for an edge in this year’s midterm elections.

The court ruled 4-3 that the state’s Democratic-led legislature violated procedural requirements when it placed the constitutional amendment on the ballot to authorize mid-decade redistricting. Voters narrowly approved the amendment on April 21, but the court’s ruling renders the vote’s result meaningless.

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Virginia Supreme Court hears challenge to voter-approved redistricting amendment

By Emily Leayman and The Associated Press
Signs at Mount Vernon Recreation Center in Del Ray on Election Day, April 21, 2026 (staff photo by James Cullum)

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.

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Virginia redistricting amendment passes narrowly, but legal challenges remain

By Emily Leayman and The Associated Press
Signs supporting and opposing redistricting on April 6, 2026 in Old Town Alexandria (staff photo by James Cullum)

The redistricting amendment passed in Virginia Tuesday will allow Democrats to pursue redrawn congressional district maps for the 2026 midterm elections.

The Associated Press called the race in favor of the redistricting amendment’s passage at 8:49 p.m. Tuesday. According to unofficial results from the Virginia Department of Elections, more than 1.5 million votes (51.45%) supported the amendment and more than 1.4 million (48.6%) opposed.

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Virginia redistricting election will go forward while court considers appeal

By The Associated Press
Virginia State Capitol in Richmond (staff photo)

Virginia voters will get to cast ballots on a congressional redistricting plan benefiting Democrats while a court battle plays out over the legality of the effort.

The Virginia Supreme Court said Friday that a statewide referendum can be held April 21 on whether to authorize mid-decade redistricting, and the court will decide sometime later whether the plan is legal.

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Buddhist monks on 2,300-mile ‘Walk for Peace’ will pass through Old Town on Monday

By Katie Taranto and The Associated Press
Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," are seen with their dog, Aloka, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Alexandria will recognize a group of Buddhist monks on a 2,300-mile journey to D.C. on Monday as they near the end of their months-long “Walk for Peace.”

The group of monks, who began their pilgrimage on Oct. 26, 2025, at a Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Texas, are expected to pass through Old Town on Monday and interact with passersby at Christ Church (118 N. Washington Street) around noon.

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Washington Post says one-third of its staff across all departments is being laid off

By The Associated Press and ALXnow.com
A sign for the Washington Post is seen at the company's offices, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

The Washington Post says one-third of its staff across all departments, not just the newsroom, is being laid off.

The troubled Post began implementing large-scale cutbacks on Wednesday, including eliminating its sports department and shrinking the number of journalists it stations overseas. The changes were announced by executive editor Matt Murray in a Zoom meeting with staff.

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Trump signs bill to end partial shutdown as Democrats continue push for ICE reform

By The Associated Press
The Capitol is seen under gray skies on the thirteenth day of the government shutdown, in Washington, Monday, Oct. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

President Donald Trump signed a roughly $1.2 trillion government funding bill Tuesday that ends the partial federal shutdown that began over the weekend and sets the stage for an intense debate in Congress over Homeland Security funding.

The president moved quickly to sign the bill after the House approved it with a 217-214 vote.

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Virginia Democrats plan appeal after judge rules redistricting resolution illegal

By The Associated Press
FILE - The state and U.S. flags fly over the Virginia State Capitol as the 2024 session of the Virginia General Assembly gets underway, Jan. 10, 2024, in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Virginia judge ruled Tuesday that a proposed constitutional amendment letting Democrats redraw the state’s Congressional maps was illegal, setting back the party’s efforts to pick up seats in the U.S. House in November. In Maryland, Gov. Wes Moore testified for a new map that could enable Democrats to defeat the state’s only House Republican.

The latest developments are part of a national battle over unusual mid-decade redistricting attempts, launched last summer by President Donald Trump who urged Republican officials in Texas to redraw maps to help the GOP win more seats. He did so in hopes of holding on to a narrow House majority in the face of political headwinds that typically favor the party out of power in midterms.

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Trump-appointed prosecutor who pursued Comey indictment departs post after 120 days

By The Associated Press
FILE - Lindsey Halligan, special assistant to the president, speaks with a reporter outside of the White House, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Lindsey Halligan, who, as a hastily appointed Justice Department prosecutor, pursued indictments against a pair of President Donald Trump’s adversaries, is leaving her position as her months-long tenure has now concluded, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday night.

Halligan’s departure from the role of interim United States attorney for the Alexandria-based Eastern District of Virginia came as multiple judges were casting doubt on her ability to remain in the job legally following a court ruling two months ago that declared her appointment illegal.

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Search of Washington Post reporter’s home took place in Alexandria, FBI confirms

By The Associated Press and Katie Taranto
FILE - A person walks into the One Franklin Square Building, home of The Washington Post newspaper, June 21, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

FBI agents searched a Washington Post reporter’s Alexandria home yesterday (Wednesday) as part of a leak investigation into a Pentagon contractor accused of taking home classified information, the Justice Department said.

Hannah Natanson, who has been covering President Donald Trump’s transformation of the federal government, had a phone, two laptops and a Garmin watch seized in the search of her Alexandria home, the Post reported. Natanson has reported extensively on the federal workforce and recently published a piece describing how she gained hundreds of new sources — leading one colleague to call her “the federal government whisperer.”

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JUST IN: Judge dismisses Comey indictment after finding that prosecutor was illegally appointed

By The Associated Press
FILE - Former FBI director James Comey speaks during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, June 8, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Monday dismissed the criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, concluding that the prosecutor who brought the charges at President Donald Trump’s urging was illegally appointed by the Justice Department.

The rulings from U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie halt at least for now a pair of prosecutions that had targeted two of the president’s most high-profile political opponents and amount to a sharp rebuke of the Trump administration’s legal maneuvering to install an inexperienced and loyalist prosecutor willing to file the cases.

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