In a decision that caps a disastrous ten days for Democrats struggling to offset Republican congressional gerrymanders, a 4-3 majority of the Virginia Supreme Court struck down the constitutional amendment referendum that voters narrowly approved on April 21. That nullifies the new congressional map that would have given Democrats an estimated net gain of four U.S. House seats in November.

The court majority agreed with a highly technical argument from the GOP. Their lawyers argued that last fall, the Democratic majority in the Virginia legislature didn’t follow the required procedures for enacting a constitutional amendment before taking it to voters. The key vote in the legislature was first taken while early voting for the 2025 general election was underway. Thus, the court reasoned, the legislature did not allow for an intervening election to begin and end before........

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