The Supreme Court of Virginia has already issued a ruling in the case involving a gerrymandered map drawn by a majority of Democrats in the state. Justices denied a request for an emergency stay of last week’s Tazewell ruling that said the State Board of Elections can’t certify the results of Virginia’s redistricting referendum, according to reports. The ruling is merely on the request for a stay, as experts online explained, not on the merits of the appeal. It comes after the court heard arguments on Monday about whether the vote approving the gerrymander earlier this month was legal and constitutional.
If the court determines that the lawmakers did indeed break these rules
If upheld, the newly redrawn map, which was only narrowly approved by a 51-48.3% margin, would change the current 6R-5R congressional seat makeup to 10D-1R. “The proposed amendment is invalid for several reasons, any one of which is sufficient to invalidate the proposed amendment and require invalidation of the vote,” Thomas McCarthy, lawyer for the Republican challenge, concluded in the hour-long hearing on Monday, Fox News reported. The Republicans argue that the Democrat-led General Assembly violated procedural rules by presenting a constitutional amendment to voters, which would allow mid-decade redistricting.
If the court determines that the lawmakers did indeed break these rules, it could invalidate the amendment, making last week’s statewide vote meaningless. “It’s often said ours is a government of laws, not of men,” McCarthy continued. “Sadly, that’s not the case if a bare partisan majority can circumvent the constitutional amendment process and undermine the rights of the people in whom all government power ultimately rests – also, that partisan majority can transform our system from a nonpartisan one where the voters elected representatives into a partisan one where the representatives select their voters.”
“We ask that the court enforce the constitutional amendment process by affirming the decision below, declaring the proposed amendment invalid and enjoin certification of the election,” he added.
New: The Supreme Court of Virginia has denied a request for an emergency stay of last week’s Tazewell ruling that said the State Board of Elections can’t certify the results of Virginia’s redistricting referendum.
This is just a ruling on the request for a stay and not on the… pic.twitter.com/iTU1i01d7O
— Tyler Englander (@TylerEnglander) April 28, 2026
Seligman maintained that the legal definition of “election” supports the state’s position
Attorneys for Democratic legislative leaders urged the Virginia Supreme Court to uphold the amendment and allow the new map, arguing that voters and lawmakers had followed every step required by the state Constitution.
In rebuttal, attorney Matthew Seligman said, “The people did, in fact, validly ratify the proposed amendment last Tuesday,” arguing further that challengers were trying to undo a democratic process that had already been completed through legislative approval and a statewide vote.
At one point, the justices acknowledged that courts allowed the vote to be held despite ongoing legal challenges.
Seligman also argued before the justices that the challengers’ case relies on reading limitations into the Constitution that do not actually exist. He stated that the General Assembly has control over its own procedures and that there is nothing in the Constitution preventing lawmakers from acting as they did during the special session.
Seligman maintained that the legal definition of “election” supports the state’s position that the amendment was passed before the relevant November election.
In closing, he noted that federal law and court precedent support the view that Election Day occurs on a single day in November, which undermines the challengers’ argument, even though Democrats support weeks’ worth of early voting and early voting took place in Virginia in regard to the redistricting effort.
The Virginia court proceedings represent the latest development in a national redistricting conflict between Republicans and Democrats, each striving for an advantage in the upcoming November election that will determine whether Republicans can maintain their slim majority in the House.
Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R), meanwhile, said last week he believes the state Supreme Court is likely to strike down the state’s newly approved map.
🚨 WOW! Former VA AG @KenCuccinelli says the VA Supreme Court may UNANIMOUSLY rule that the Democrats’ redistricting stunt was unconstitutional in MULTIPLE ways
THAT’S how egregious this whole thing is.
“There's some very basic processes in the Constitution for amending the… pic.twitter.com/GgW7rCETMZ
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) April 23, 2026
Cuccinelli made the remarks during an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Friday. He pointed to both procedural concerns and constitutional questions surrounding how the measure was brought before voters, adding he thinks the decision to overturn will be unanimous at 7-0.
