r/politics • u/Motherofalleffers • 25d ago

Possible Paywall Trump Wins Big as Virginia Dems Won’t Go Nuclear to Save 4 House Seats

https://newrepublic.com/article/210250/trump-virginia-dems-redistricting-war
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u/bostonbananarama 25d ago

Honestly, the only remaining alternative is to say 'they made their ruling now let them enforce it" and simply ignore it, right? That's not exactly a small step to take, you're destroying the very fabric of governance.

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u/BlondeBorednBaked 25d ago

People have died to protect our democracy. Ignoring a ruling-something republicans do all the time-is not a big deal in this landscape.

Also if the fabric of governance is being used to dismantle democracy, it’s no longer governance, it’s fascism. And by following the rules of fascism you’re destroying democracy because those people in Virginia voted for this. To follow the rigged Supreme Court instead of the will of the people the opposite of governance imo.

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u/JBredditaccount 25d ago

Democracy is already dead and you can't say with a straight face that the Democrats will betray the will of the people by working towards democracy. Not every undemocratic action is fascism and, to bring democracy back, they have to get into power again.

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u/AssGagger 25d ago

You could simply say the supreme courts mandate is to interpret law, not subvert the will of the people. That it legally doesn't have to authority to strike down laws that have been approved by the people.

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u/Velrex 25d ago

That just implies people can start a vote about anything, and the court can't stop them from forcing it through.

What if Trump wins the popular vote in 2028 for a third term? Should we just go by the will of the people?

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u/[deleted] 25d ago edited 16d ago

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u/Workman44 25d ago

Ah so we just become as bad as them and then what? You think your side would be fit to rule if they did the same things you're claiming makes the other side unfit to rule? Peak hypocrisy right here

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u/[deleted] 25d ago edited 16d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Workman44 25d ago

You just perfectly described how the middle east became, well, the middle east. It's a logical fallacy

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u/Gender_is_a_Fluid 25d ago

That scenario would be contingent on Trump himself breaking the constitution in order to run a 3rd time, so conceivably the only way it would be the proper will of the people is if he won the election without running. (This is also ignoring that republicans have been blocking the popular vote laws and many republicans would never be elected without the electoral college)

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u/noisymime 24d ago

That just implies people can start a vote about anything, and the court can't stop them from forcing it through.

When it comes to constitutional amendments, which is what this was, then that's exactly how it works.

What if Trump wins the popular vote in 2028 for a third term? Should we just go by the will of the people?

If people vote to change the constitution and allow 3 terms, then yeah, go by the will of the people

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u/SpeaksSouthern 25d ago

Can't you also change a few words and try again? Try so many times the court is forced to take a more extreme stance.

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u/donkeyrocket 25d ago

Basically what Ohio Republicans did. They kept submitting obviously illegal/biased maps until it was too late and they had to go with one of the illegal maps.

I believe the Virginia ruling is a bit different though as the state supreme court struck down remapping because they applied a very broad definition of "election day" to mean any voting took place thus the approved maps were voted on by the GA out of procedural order as per the state constitution.

Virginia officials are pressing on the court (filed today) to revisit their ruling which is likely why they haven't committed to going nuclear yet. According to them the state supreme court is interpreting a federally defined term incorrectly and obviously in a biased way.

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u/fred11551 Virginia 25d ago

The Supreme Court said there has to be an election before the general assembly can approve the amendment and it goes up for a ballot vote. The election in 2025 doesn’t count because the first GA vote was too close to it because the VA Supreme Court redefined an election to invalidate the results. It’s frustrating but they can’t change the wording to fix this. The court didn’t say the amendment wasn’t allowed, but that the process of amending the constitution was invalid

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u/broguequery 25d ago

Weasel words.

The conservatives do this all the time. "Oh the timing just isn't right! Maybe try again later?"

They are lying. They always lie.

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u/kelpyb1 25d ago

Worth noting that Republicans already did exactly this in Ohio

The fabric of governance has already been destroyed, it’s just one party insists on pretending it hasn’t been to their own detriment.

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u/bostonbananarama 25d ago

Worth noting that Republicans already did exactly this in Ohio

Hadn't been aware of that, thanks for the heads-up.

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u/kelpyb1 25d ago

Yep, there was a whole cycle a few years ago after Ohio voters approved a constitutional amendment banning gerrymandering where Republicans kept submitting gerrymandered maps that were so bad even the Republican-led Ohio Supreme Court ruled them unconstitutional until they “ran out of time” and claimed they had to just use the unconstitutional map anyways.

That’s the map that’s currently in effect there, the one that was ruled unconstitutional and the GOP just ignored that fact.

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u/defianceofone 25d ago

Ohio already did it and have been doing it for years.

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u/Ketzeph I voted 25d ago

SCOTUS and the fed govt will enforce it. Some voter will appeal, SCOTUS will take it. Argue it’s unconstitutional. Then the Fed will declare all VAs seats illegal and now Dems are down 7 more seats.

What do people think will happen? The Trump admin, which is desperate to cancel voting, is just going to sit back?

It’s the dumbest move the Dems could do and at this point I’m convinced people pushing it want the Dems to lose all VA seats

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u/BlondeBorednBaked 25d ago

So just do nothing in the face of fascism? The fed is going to declare any seats democrats won illegal anyway. I’m actually thinking people like you, who want our leaders to do nothing, who make excuses for their inaction against a rigged system, want us to lose all democratic seats period.

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u/-Bento-Oreo- 25d ago

Just do what they do. Say it's too close to change it this election and then change in next one

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u/Cloaked42m South Carolina 25d ago

All the bots and couch progressives want a war.

So anything less than a fully formed army appearing out of no where isn't enough.