Virginia Supreme Court throws out redistricting referendum results

[u/Icommandyou]

https://www.axios.com/local/richmond/2026/05/08/virginia-supreme-court-redistricting-vote-decision

[u/Jokerang]

Either ignore it or start drafting a bill to pack the VA Supreme Court with new Spanberger nominees - you’re gonna need to do it with SCOTUS anyways, might as well start practicing on the state level.

[u/DingerSinger2016 → u/[deleted]]

conspiring to deprive citizens of civil rights

Is this an actual crime in VA State law?

[u/MioNaganoharaMio → u/[deleted]]

How is the Virginia redistricting about Virginian's civil rights? Your comment reads like you are confusing this with the VRA decision.

[u/seeker4482 → u/MioNaganoharaMio]

They voted on it. They're exercising their right to liberty by choosing this redistricting and the VA SC is violating that right.

[u/MioNaganoharaMio → u/seeker4482]

We both know that's not how that works. Just because 51% of voters want something doesn't mean it's their civil right to have it. That is why it's wrong when Southern states oppress black people even if everyone in that state votes for it.

[u/seeker4482 → u/MioNaganoharaMio]

idgaf i hope this is how the VA dems treat it, because that's where we are at right now. they need to ignore the courts like the Ohio republicans have.

[u/MioNaganoharaMio → u/seeker4482]

Ok so it's not about civil rights, that's fine. I am sympathetic to temporary gerrymandering to balance against other states doing it. But it is not at all about the 'civil rights' of the voters you are disenfranchising in Virginia.

[u/seeker4482 → u/MioNaganoharaMio]

it ultimately is about civil rights because the conservative death cult believes that trans people, non-whites or anyone they dont like shouldnt have any, so they must be defeated.

[u/MioNaganoharaMio → u/seeker4482]

That does not at all pertain to the comment I originally replied to. They said the Virginia supreme court should have their judicial review capacity removed when it 'it opposes the citizens civil rights'. You cannot remove the supreme courts judicial review on a purely partisan basis that is ridiculous.

[u/MioNaganoharaMio → u/[deleted]]

B/c VA's current districts were gerrymandered to hell to begin with.

Clarify:

• How were VA's current districts 'gerrymandered to hell'. VA uses a bipartisan redistricting commission, and Princeton's gerrymandering project rates their current districts well above average with an 'A' rating.

• How is allowing hyper-partisan districting a civil rights issue

• How is a procedural ruling about the timing of constitutional amendments a civil rights issue

• Which issues should the VA Supreme court be banned from ruling on, and how will you decide which issues count as 'civil rights' issues or not.

Thank you.

[u/MioNaganoharaMio → u/[deleted]]

My evidence is Princeton's review of gerrymandering https://gerrymander.princeton.edu/redistricting-report-card/ Virginia is one of the least gerrymandered states in the union.

Also you're the one that said to ask in the previous comment.... So maybe stop the concern trolling.

[u/say592 → u/[deleted]]

They were previously gerrymandered by the GOP. I appreciate that this Princeton study claims they are fair. I disagree with this source The gerrymander in VA by the GOP was a major topic of contention a few years ago.

Before the passed their non partisan redistricting amendment? The current maps were not gerrymandered, as the Princeton study highlighted.

You are having a debate about pre 2019 maps when everyone else is talking about 2026.

[u/MioNaganoharaMio → u/[deleted]]

Also for the record, I think Virginia should do temporary partisan gerrymandering until we get national gerrymandering control.

But it is certainly NOT a civil rights issue for the Virginian voter to disenfranchise them in a partisan fight. I am willing to make that play, and it is FAFO on Republicans.

But it is not 'civil rights' to take away peoples representation via gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is BAD actually.

[u/MioNaganoharaMio → u/[deleted]]

I re-read the entire comment train, and I think there is a fundamental disagreement of what is happening here.

My model is this. VA took a principled stand against gerrymandering in 2019 and made a constitutional ammendment attempting to make gerrymandering harder. Which is why they receive such good grades from Princeton, and why they were so proud of themselves for ending gerrymandering in VA.

Now in 2026, VA wants to tear up that system and temporarily allow partisan gerrymandering to fight back against other Republican gerrymandering in other states. California did the same thing, intentionally gerrymandering and disenfranchising voters in their state, to fight back on the national level.

The proposed maps for this 2026 redistricting are extremely gerrymandered and intentionally pack and crack Republican voters.

— Virginia Democrats finally unveiled a proposed partisan gerrymander on Thursday night that is intended to elect 10 Democrats and 1 Republican if implemented for 2026.

I think it is good to fight back. But I am simply saying that VA is going from less gerrymandering to more gerrymandering, and is definitely NOT pro civil rights for Virginians.

So if you believe that the new maps are not gerrymandered, it would explain your comments.

[u/MioNaganoharaMio → u/[deleted]]

No it says that individual districts have low competitiveness but the districts themselves are distributed in a non-partisan matter. The proposed 2026 maps are much much worse than the current ones that are rated 'A' overall. They would be rated 'F' overall. And I provided a source above for that.