U.S. Supreme Court Denies Virginia’s Request To Reinstate Democrats’ Congressional Map

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday evening turned down Virginia’s request to reinstate a congressional map that Virginia Democrats said would have strongly favored them in the 2026 elections.

The denial came in a brief, unsigned order sent to reporters at 6:30 p.m. EDT on Friday, just 15 minutes after the court’s Public Information Office distributed the reply filed by Jay Jones, Virginia’s attorney general, and Democratic legislators.

Al Jazeera

The dispute began after a May 8 ruling by the Virginia Supreme Court invalidated an amendment to the Virginia Constitution allowing the state’s Legislature to enact a new congressional map.

Virginia Democrats argued the Virginia Supreme Court’s decision “overthrows [a] democratic outcome just days before the Commonwealth must begin its preparations to administer the 2026 midterm election,” while Republican legislators countered that the request to block the state supreme court’s ruling was “extraordinary.”

NPR described the Supreme Court’s refusal as a “death knell” for Virginia’s Democratic-friendly congressional maps, saying the map was favored in all but one of Virginia’s U.S. House seats.

NPR said Virginia Democrats and Jay Jones appealed after the Virginia Supreme Court’s 4-to-3 decision declared the April referendum, and the new map it approved, null and void because lawmakers failed to follow proper procedures.

AP News

In their emergency application, Democrats asserted the Virginia Supreme Court was “deeply mistaken” on “critical issues of federal law with profound practical importance to the Nation,” while Republican legislators argued the U.S. Supreme Court should not wade into a purely state law controversy.

CBS News reported the Supreme Court left intact the Virginia Supreme Court’s ruling in an unsigned one-sentence order, with no dissents noted, and said Virginia Democrats had to restore the new voting boundaries earlier this week.

The practical impact of the Supreme Court’s denial was shaped by Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who had already indicated earlier this week that the state would not use the 2026 map in the upcoming elections.

“Supreme Court rejects Virginia’s bid to restore congressional map favoring Democrats WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday rejected Virginia’s bid to restore a congressional map that would have given Democrats a chance to pick up four seats in the closely divided House of Representatives”

AP News

AP reported that the Supreme Court’s rejection left in place the Virginia Supreme Court’s ruling that struck down a constitutional amendment after voters narrowly passed it, finding lawmakers improperly began placing the amendment on the ballot after early voting had begun.

AP also said Virginia Democrats had hoped to persuade the justices that the Virginia court misread federal law and Supreme Court precedent, including the argument that “an election does not happen until Election Day itself.”

In a separate development, AP quoted state party chairman Jeff Ryer saying, “Wisely, the Supreme Court of the United States has confirmed the judgment of the Supreme Court of Virginia,” and added that “This should once and for all put to rest the Democrats’ effort to disenfranchise half of Virginia.”