Supreme Court REJECTS Virginia Democrats’ Bid to Restore Controversial Election Map

It’s official: the unfair, gerrymandered Virginia congressional map is dead!

The map, which would have likely eliminated all but one Republican district in Virginia, was previously struck down by the Virginia Supreme Court.

Democrats appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

And today, SCOTUS rejected the Democrats’ bid to overturn the ruling!

Here are the details:

🚨 BREAKING: The Virginia Supreme Court has overturned the Democrat gerrymandering referendum, ruling that the process to put in on the ballot was unconstitutional.

Virginia will keep their 5 Republican districts. pic.twitter.com/MK4kFd6nBS

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 8, 2026

🚨 BREAKING: SUPREME COURT LAUGHS VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS OUT OF THE ROOM — the 10D-1R map STAYS struck down, Dems have LOST the case

LMAO! They just got pummeled by BOTH SCOTUS and the VA Supreme Court.

The map will remain as-is.

Hakeem Jeffries is LIVID tonight! Another win! 🔥… pic.twitter.com/IHoPBHMJRi

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) May 15, 2026

BREAKING: SUPREME COURT LAUGHS VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS OUT OF THE ROOM — the 10D-1R map STAYS struck down, Dems have LOST the case

LMAO! They just got pummeled by BOTH SCOTUS and the VA Supreme Court.

The map will remain as-is.

Hakeem Jeffries is LIVID tonight! Another win! 🔥

The DEI Attorney General Jay Jones got laughed out of court!

Specifically, SCOTUS ruled that the Virginia map is unconstitutional because Democrats improperly added the amendment to the ballot after early voting had already begun.

The New York Times reported:

In the fall, Virginia lawmakers voted to amend their state constitution to clear the way for Democrats to redraw the map, a process that required two votes of the state’s General Assembly, with an election in between.

The timing of that fall vote is crucial for understanding what followed. Lawmakers authorized the amendment just days before the fall’s legislative election, while early voting was already underway. More than a million voters had already cast their ballots.

After another vote of the assembly, Virginians approved the map in a statewide referendum in April. The move was widely seen as a victory for the party that put it on equal footing with Republican redistricting efforts nationwide, or even might give Democrats a narrow advantage.

But Republicans swiftly challenged the new map, arguing that Democrats had violated the procedural guidelines required to pass the redistricting amendment by beginning the process once an election was underway.

Democrats countered that they had voted in time, since they acted before Election Day. They also argued that the state Supreme Court should not undercut the will of the voters who took part in the spring referendum.

On May 8, the Virginia Supreme Court sided with the Republicans, deciding 4 to 3 that the Democratic lawmakers had violated the state’s constitution by taking up the matter after early voting was underway.

Three days later, Jay Jones, Virginia’s Democratic attorney general, filed an emergency petition asking the Supreme Court to temporarily block the Virginia Supreme Court’s ruling and clear the way for the new map to be used in the midterm elections.

This is a massive victory for Republicans ahead of midterms.

In addition to the unfair Virginia map being tossed out, Republicans have also been picking up wins in states like Louisiana and Alabama.

13 News Now has more:

The court’s order is the latest twist in the nation’s mid-decade redistricting competition. It was kicked off last year by President Donald Trump urging Republican-controlled states to redraw their lines and was supercharged by a recent Supreme Court ruling severely weakening the Voting Rights Act that opened up even more winnable seats for the GOP.

In recent days, the justices have sided with Republicans in Alabama and Louisiana who hope to redo their congressional maps to produce more GOP-leaning seats following the court’s voting rights decision.

But the Virginia situation was different, stemming from a 4-3 ruling by the Virginia Supreme Court that struck down a constitutional amendment that voters narrowly passed just last month.