VA Supreme Court Redistricting Ruling: Dissent, Appeal, and 2026 Impact

The Supreme Court of Virginia struck down the voter-approved constitutional amendment that would have let the General Assembly redraw the state’s congressional districts for the 2026 midterms. The 4-3 ruling in Scott v. McDougle on May 8, 2026, nullified a referendum that about 3.1 million Virginians had voted on just over two weeks earlier, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined on May 15 to step in. The practical result of the Virginia Supreme Court redistricting ruling: the 2021 court-drawn congressional map stays in place for 2026, and a proposed map that could have favored Democrats in as many as 10 of 11 districts is dead.¹²

What the Court Decided

The majority held that the General Assembly violated Article XII, Section 1 of the Virginia Constitution, which requires an intervening House of Delegates general election between the legislature’s two votes on a proposed amendment. Lawmakers passed the redistricting amendment first on October 29 and 31, 2025, and again on January 14 and 16, 2026. Election Day fell on November 4, 2025, between those two votes. That looks like compliance, and that is where the case turned.¹

Justice D. Arthur Kelsey, writing for the majority, concluded that an “election” is not confined to Election Day. Early voting had opened on September 19, 2025, and by the time lawmakers cast their first vote in late October, roughly 1.3 million Virginians had already voted in the House of Delegates election. The court held that “election” covers “the combined actions of voters casting ballots and officers of election receiving those votes.” Because voting was already underway when the General Assembly first approved the amendment, there was no true intervening election between the two legislative votes.³

The point of that requirement, Justice Kelsey wrote, is to “slow-walk the constitutional-amendment process” so voters can evaluate their lawmakers’ positions on the amendment before casting ballots. The procedural failure, the court said, “incurably taints” the referendum and “nullifies its legal efficacy.” The April 21, 2026, vote, which approved the amendment by about 3.3 percentage points, carried no legal force.¹²

The Dissent

Chief Justice Cleo E. Powell dissented, joined by two other justices. She wrote that the majority had improperly “broadened the meaning of the word ‘election,’ as used in the Virginia Constitution, to include the early voting period,” an interpretation she called “in direct conflict with how both Virginia and federal law define an election.”⁴ Analysis by the Virginia Public Access Project found the four justices in the majority leaned Republican and the three dissenters leaned Democratic. Virginia Supreme Court justices are elected by the General Assembly, and some Democratic lawmakers, including Delegate Dan Helmer, publicly suggested refusing to reappoint Justice Kelsey when his 12-year term expires in January 2027. Republican leaders called those threats an attempt to politicize the judiciary.⁵

Why the U.S. Supreme Court Didn’t Save the Map

Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones filed a 24-page emergency application for a stay with the U.S. Supreme Court (docket 25A1240), asking the justices to block the state ruling and reinstate the new map. Jones argued that the state court had committed a “grave misreading of federal law” by treating early voting as part of an “election,” because 2 U.S.C. § 7 fixes a single day for congressional elections. He also invoked the 2023 ruling on the independent state legislature theory, arguing the Virginia court had “transgressed the ordinary bounds of judicial review.”⁶⁷

On May 15, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the application in a brief, unsigned, one-sentence order with no noted dissents. The court offered no explanation. Reporting indicated the matter was viewed as involving “purely state law,” which was the position Senator Ryan McDougle’s legal team had pressed: a state constitutional question outside federal jurisdiction.⁸⁹

What the Ruling Means for the 2026 Elections

The 2021 congressional map drawn by special masters for the Supreme Court of Virginia governs the 2026 midterms. It contains six Democratic-leaning seats, four Republican-leaning seats, and one toss-up. The proposed map adopted by the legislature in February 2026 would have reshaped the state’s partisan balance toward Democrats in up to 10 of 11 districts, so the ruling cost Democrats a potential pickup of about four Republican-held House seats.²⁹

Democratic strategists identified three districts as the most competitive targets under the restored map: the 1st District held by Rob Wittman, the 2nd District held by Jen Kiggans, and potentially the 5th District held by John McGuire.²

Several candidates who had organized around the proposed district lines dropped out quickly. Dorothy McAuliffe, who had raised more than $1.1 million for a run in the redrawn 7th District, suspended her campaign. So did Delegate Dan Helmer, who had raised over $642,000, along with J.P. Cooney and Colonel Bree Fram. Delegates Elizabeth Guzman and Adele McClure and state Senator Saddam Azlan Salim also ended their campaigns. Tom Perriello, who had been running in the redrawn 5th District, pivoted to challenge Representative McGuire under the existing map.²¹⁰

The 2026 primary was set for August 4, with a candidate filing deadline of May 26 and early voting opening June 18.

Reactions

Attorney General Jones accused the “Republican-led majority” on the state court of choosing “politics over the rule of law” and said his office was “evaluating every legal pathway forward to defend the will of the people.”¹¹ After the U.S. Supreme Court denial, he called it part of a “national attack on voting rights and the rule of law.” Governor Abigail Spanberger said the courts had “nullified the votes of the more than 3 million Virginians who cast ballots in the April 21 special election” and said voters would “have the final say” in November 2026.¹²

Republican National Committee Chair Joe Gruters called the outcome a victory for the “rule of law” against attempts to “rig elections.”¹³ Virginia Republican Party Chair Jeff Ryer said the decision “should once and for all put to rest the Democrats’ effort to disenfranchise half of Virginia.”¹²

Can Lawmakers Try Again?

Yes. The ruling does not bar the General Assembly from attempting the constitutional amendment process again for future election cycles, provided it strictly complies with Article XII’s procedural requirements, including the timing of the two legislative votes relative to a House of Delegates election. That timing is now the controlling point: under Scott v. McDougle, the first legislative vote must occur before early voting opens for the intervening general election, not just before Election Day. The Virginia Redistricting Commission is set to resume its role for the next round of decennial redistricting in 2031.¹⁴

1
Supreme Court of Virginia. Scott v. McDougle, Record No. 260127
2
Virginia Mercury. Virginia’s Redistricting Amendment Was Struck Down. What’s Next?
3
JURIST. Virginia Supreme Court Strikes Down Voter-Approved Partisan Redistricting Amendment
4
Virginia Lawyers Weekly. Supreme Court of Virginia Vacates Redistricting Amendment Over Election Definition
5
Virginia Scope. Democrats Could Soon Change Partisan Makeup of Virginia Supreme Court
6
SCOTUSblog. Virginia Asks Supreme Court to Allow It to Reinstate Congressional Map
7
WTVR CBS 6. Virginia’s Attorney General Files SCOTUS Appeal
8
SCOTUSblog. Court Denies Virginia’s Request to Reinstate Congressional Map That Would Benefit Democrats
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NPR. Supreme Court Rejects Virginia Redistricting Bid
10
ABC News. Virginia Democratic House Candidates Drop Out After Court Rulings
11
Office of the Attorney General of Virginia. Attorney General Jay Jones Statement Regarding Supreme Court of Virginia Decision in Redistricting Case
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ABC7 New York. SCOTUS Rejects State’s Bid to Restore Virginia Map Favoring Democrats
13
VPM. Court Rejects Virginia Redistricting in a Blow to Democrats’ Counter to Trump GOP
14
State Court Report. Virginia’s Redistricting Effort and the Laborious Process to Amend Its Constitution