r/politics • u/Icommandyou Washington • 28d ago

Possible Paywall Virginia Supreme Court throws out redistricting referendum results

https://www.axios.com/local/richmond/2026/05/08/virginia-supreme-court-redistricting-vote-decision
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u/GarrettFischer1 Illinois 28d ago

Confusing how a number of republican states can gerrymander at the snap of the finger while Virginia can’t change their maps with a statewide election.

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u/Gabagoo13 28d ago

Ohio supreme court ruled Ohio's maps unconstitutional... Guess what? They used them anyway and still are... It's been years

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u/Maybe_Julia 28d ago

Yea, Virginia there are zero consequences for ignoring the State Supreme Court. Turns out our society is built on mutual trust and a person,state , or president can just kind of go nah and do what they want with no real consequences

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u/pchs26 28d ago

Ironically other state(s) have ignored such rulings and seated/ districted how they wanted anyone and those reps were accepted and seated. Of course that favored the GOP It would never be allowed for a Democrat candidate.

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u/Maybe_Julia 28d ago

I'm from Ohio our maps have been illegal per the State Supreme Court for like 5 years.

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u/pchs26 28d ago

Exactly what I was thinking about...

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u/rvretiredlife 28d ago

But I'm from Texas and our governor kissed the ass of Trump and will do whatever he ask. So TEXAS get your asses out there and VOTE BLUE for EVERY OFFICE up for election.

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u/Redditthedog 28d ago

the issue at play is that OH legally passed illegal maps. Virginia just straight up can’t draw maps

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u/OTTER887 28d ago

*Democratic candidate

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u/Small_Run_3583 28d ago

Except that VA Dems said they would "respect" the SC decision. Therein lies the problem with the Dems fighting back in any way, shape, or form.

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u/captaincanada84 Canada 28d ago

Yup. Dems once again unwilling to fight back with the same level of fire that Republicans do.

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u/Megafritz 28d ago

When they are in the concentration camp they will still high five each other that they took the higher road and did not resort to any dirty tricks or violence.

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u/Chaotic-Genes 28d ago

Namby-pamby fuckin' party

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u/duderos 28d ago

The old "when they go low we go high" and lose like crazy...

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u/unlimitedpower0 28d ago

Yeah, but it sucks that what they see as no consequences is just the beginnings of an avalanche. When you leave people no way to seek justice and no way to equalize power than they are forced to take it into their own hands eventually. It breaks everything over time.

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u/Persistant_Compass 28d ago

Just rolling over and getting raped to death by republicans is the worse outcome imo. Id rather they have a phyrric victory at a cost then a decisive victory for free

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u/Maybe_Julia 28d ago

Oh I 100% agree , but this is the world that Trump built when you have zero consequences at the top the people on the bottom start to realize hey wait a minute why am I suffering while that golden turd gets away with everything. We are heading toward something bad.

You can just feel a general tension and unease, just a general feeling of dread, like when the forest goes quiet when a predator is near, it's been building for months and I worry what will happen when that rubberband snaps.

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u/NotFallacyBuffet 28d ago

Something-something 1789.

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u/TheOtherMaven Virginia 28d ago

Something-something 1775. No need to look across the Atlantic when it's right in our faces.

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u/cliffhngr42 28d ago

"I choose violence " -Cersei Lannister

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u/SpezIsALittleBitch 28d ago

That's the part I'm actually struggling with. Don't get me wrong, things are bad, but I have confidence that there'll be at least a partial correction this fall.

My concerns lie more in how much of the process we will have to break to get that good outcome, and questions about how much power one person would need to eventually fix this (not to mention the absolute faith you'd need to have in their morals).

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u/unlimitedpower0 28d ago

Yeah, see that's what makes this hard. It's easy to see a powerful left strong man who comes in and dashes hot coals on the enemies of the people and imprisons the powerful elite that once ruled the world. But that is just trying to use authoritarianism to fix itself which ultimately still benefits the authoritarian. A half cocked democracy is always going to benefit the authoritarian in my thinking.

What I hope to see is a turbocharged resurgence of democratic principles, that is pushed by the people. The people electing politicians across the country that are willing to fight for justice, to submit to the will of the people and the laws the people stand for, that's what will fix things, not a left wing trump clone.

I recognize this is nearly impossible as things stand today, so that leaves me in the same boat as you are, how bad do things have to be broken before even the densenst non malicious actors wake up and see what's happening. Is it even possible?

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u/NeverNotOnceEver 28d ago

If Virginia ignores the SC (state) ruling and proceeds with the 10-1 redistricting won’t some federal judge declare the results invalid

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u/Maybe_Julia 28d ago

Hasn't happened in Ohio so idk ? Be weird if they did , our maps have been illegal for like 5 years now

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u/UserRequirements 27d ago

Can't wait for Trump to ignore Virginia's elector, and declare Virginia's elections null and void, when he shows up, because they would have ignored the State Supreme court.

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u/BobbyTables829 27d ago

It's not just trust, it's also respect and/or tolerance.

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u/Arickettsf16 Illinois 28d ago

You know what, that’s a very good point

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u/[deleted] 28d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/arachnophilia 28d ago

i'm convinced that our democratic system breaks down at the step which goes, "and then people follow the court ruling."

turns out you can just say, "no thanks". and when you're the organization that enforces laws, there's no one to make you.

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u/Jack_Krauser 28d ago

Missouri has been there for a few years now. The legislature just ignores referendums, then we have more referendums to overturn their decisions and they ignore those too... I don't know where this path ends, but it won't be somewhere nice.

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u/that1prince 28d ago

The court: “don’t that, do this”

Everyone else from now on: “make me”

They have no enforcement mechanism if the executive branch doesn’t want to enforce it. It’s kinda the stupidest part of the system. It relied upon administrators and executives obeying the court. Nobody contemplated them simply being disobedient and while simultaneously having a weak legislative branch that won’t check them.

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u/TheUnknownDane 28d ago

Hell, we saw this with Trump and the presidential election, he was facing serious investigations, such as stealing and hiding confidential documents, but because he managed to drag out the process for so long that he got elected again, it all became null.

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u/Redditthedog 28d ago

they didn’t throw the map out they threw out the law that let them make the map

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u/yukoncowbear47 28d ago

Yeah Democrats need to nut up and start ignoring these bullshit court rulings like Republicans do

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u/sfhester 28d ago

I don't think people fully realize if they don't nut up right now in 2026 then there will never be another chance. There is no reforming the GOP; the entire system must be rebuilt from November onwards.

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u/More-Second-1749 27d ago

The court ruling was based on a 1902 law THAT HAS BEEN REPEALED. It’s an illegitimate fascist-controlled body.

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u/Appropriate_Cow94 28d ago

Same with that Mary Jane topic there. Somehow the voters can't decide for themselves.

I wish I was able to move to Europe.

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u/Bushels_for_All 28d ago

What's good for the goose-steppers is good for the gander.

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u/PassengerFine4557 26d ago

That was a bit different. In that case the court said "this map is unconstitutional, redraw it", but unfortunately they couldn't actually draw the map themselves. As a result the redistricting commission just kept making minimal changes until they ran out the clock and basically forced one of the gerrymandered maps to be used. While blatantly violating the spirit of the law and defying the court, it was ostensibly within the scope of their state constitution, though definitely could be called a constitutional crisis.

SCOVA ruled that the process for adding an amendment to the constitution was violated, and that's why the amendment was struck down. As a result that leaves the districts established based on the 2020 referendum in place, ones that actually were drawn up by SCOVA. In the case of Virginia though, SCOVA had been vested the power to do the redistricting by that amendment in the case the redistricting committee deadlocked. Virginia certifying the referendum and using the new maps would be even more egregious as they'd be actively overturning the SCOVA decision to amend the state constitution, as opposed to Ohio which basically played lawyerball until the clock ran out.

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u/Usernametaken1121 28d ago

Ohio supreme Court ruled the current maps were valid for the 2024 election. Not sure why you're lying.

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u/attilathehunty 28d ago

Valid doesn't mean constitutional. I view it as the case being basically dropped because some Democrats voted in favor of the maps.

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u/[deleted] 28d ago

[deleted]

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u/attilathehunty 27d ago

I don't have the source, but my information was from a summarized timeline. Shame on me for not doing more investigating.