The U.S. Supreme Court, without any noted dissent, on Friday rejected Virginia’s request to block a state court ruling that struck down a voter-approved constitutional amendment designed to redraw the state’s congressional map in favor of Democrats. The order means Virginia will hold its 2026 elections under the current district lines established after the 2020 Census, closing off a path that could have shifted the balance of the closely divided House of Representatives. The rejection came just days after Virginia election officials said they needed a court order by Tuesday to reconfigure districts ahead of the Aug. 4 primary.
The Virginia case differed from other recent redistricting disputes. Unlike the Supreme Court’s recent moves in Alabama and Louisiana that favored Republican-led map challenges after the court weakened the Voting Rights Act, the Virginia fight hinged on a state-law question. The Virginia Supreme Court, in a 4-3 ruling, found that the Democratic-controlled legislature began the amendment process after early voting had started in the 2025 general election, a move that violated procedural rules. That amendment, which voters narrowly approved in April, would have reconfigured district boundaries to potentially offset gains secured by GOP-controlled states such as Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, and Florida.
Attorney General Jay Jones, a Democrat, condemned the ruling in sharply political terms. “Let’s be clear about what is happening. Donald Trump, Republican state legislatures, and conservative courts are systematically and unabashedly tilting power away from the people for Trump’s political gain,” Jones said in a statement.
Democratic lawyers had urged the justices to intervene, arguing that an election does not occur until Election Day itself under federal law and Supreme Court precedent. “Time grows short, but it is not yet too late,” they wrote in a brief filed Friday. But Governor Abigail Spanberger’s office had already confirmed a day earlier that the state would proceed under the 2021 map. Last month, Virginia Commissioner of Elections Steve Koski said a court order was needed by the prior Tuesday to set new lines. Spanberger reacted Friday by saying both courts had nullified the votes of more than 3 million Virginians, who cast ballots in the April 21 special election to “push back against a President who said he’s ‘entitled’ to more seats in Congress.”
Virginia Republican Party chairman Jeff Ryer praised the decision. “Wisely, the Supreme Court of the United States has confirmed the judgment of the Supreme Court of Virginia,” Ryer said. “This should once and for all put to rest the Democrats’ effort to disenfranchise half of Virginia.”