Virginia Democrats on Monday filed an emergency application to the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the state to use a new congressional map expected to provide four additional U.S. House seats in the 2026 midterm elections.
The Virginia Supreme Court last week struck down a ballot measure that approved a constitutional amendment to create a new congressional map.
In a 4-3 ruling, the court said the state’s Democrat-led legislature violated procedural requirements when it placed the constitutional amendment on the ballot.
“We hold that the legislative process employed to advance this proposal violated Article XII, Section 1 of the Constitution of Virginia,” the ruling read.
“This constitutional violation incurably taints the resulting referendum vote and nullifies its legal efficacy,” it continued.
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NBC News shared further:
In the new filing on behalf of Democratic state lawmakers, Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones said that the state court “overrode the will of the people” by focusing on a technical interpretation of what process was required under state law.
The U.S. Supreme Court does not have jurisdiction over issues of state law, but in the new filing Jones said the Virginia Supreme Court’s decision also violated federal law.
“Based on that novel and manifestly atextual interpretation, the Court overrode the will of the people who ratified the amendment by ordering the Commonwealth to conduct its election with the congressional districts that the people rejected,” the filing reads, according to The Hill.
🚨 Virginia Democrats have asked the Supreme Court to allow the legislature’s proposed congressional map to be used in the 2026 elections after the Virginia Supreme Court struck down the constitutional amendment authorizing the redraw. pic.twitter.com/d81CiSTVee
— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) May 11, 2026
The Hill noted:
Virginia’s Constitution requires the legislature to pass the proposal in two separate sessions, with an election in between, before sending it to the public. Since early voting for the 2025 election was already underway when Democrats passed the new lines the first time in October, the court ruled 4-3 that that election had already begun, so the map is invalid.
The nation’s highest court only has limited authority to review state court decisions. The justices let rulings stand when they rest on an “adequate and independent state ground.”
Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones (D) and other state leaders said Friday’s decision raises two federal problems: it conflicts with the federal definition of an “election” and a recent Supreme Court decision making clear state legislatures’ authority in regulating federal elections.
“The window for orderly administration of Virginia’s congressional elections is closing rapidly,” the appeal reads. “This Court should act now to preserve the status quo while it considers the grave federal questions the decision below raises.”
The New York Times shared the full emergency application HERE.
