Virginia Democrats Rush Court To Reinstate Blocked Redistricting Power Grab

In yet another brazen attempt to tilt the political playing field, Virginia Democrats are now asking the state Court of Appeals to overrule a judge’s decision that blocked their unconstitutional redistricting maneuver a move that could hand them a lopsided 10–1 advantage in the state’s congressional delegation.

On Wednesday, attorneys for Democrat House Speaker Don Scott filed an emergency motion to reverse Circuit Judge Jack S. Hurley Jr.’s ruling, which found that Democrats violated state constitutional rules by changing legislative procedures midstream in a special session to push their redistricting plan through.

The ruling stems from an October 2025 special session, during which Democrats hastily reworked internal legislative rules to sneak in a redistricting amendment. Judge Hurley rightly concluded the move was both procedurally illegal and timed to bypass constitutional safeguards, including key requirements for public notice and electoral timing.

“The Circuit Court far exceeded the bounds of its authority,” Scott’s legal team claimed, arguing that legislative procedures are immune from judicial scrutiny a bold claim given the clear constitutional violations at play.

Let’s be clear about what Democrats are trying to do here: rewrite the rules in the middle of the game to cement near-total control over Virginia’s U.S. House delegation. With the state currently split 6 Democrats to 5 Republicans, this redistricting amendment could reshape the map to produce a 10–1 Democrat advantage no surprise for a party increasingly reliant on courts, bureaucracies, and backroom rule changes to win elections they can’t win fairly.

Judge Hurley saw through it.

His ruling not only found that the legislative timeline was improperly manipulated, but that Democrats violated the Virginia Constitution’s requirement that amendments be passed once before and once after a House election. Democrats rammed through their proposal less than a week before the 2025 election, even though early voting had already begun a fact the court found critical.

Democrats argue that early voting doesn’t count and that “Election Day” only refers to November 4. That’s like arguing a football game hasn’t started until the second quarter.

But the violations didn’t end there. The judge also determined that Democrats failed to provide the legally required 90-day notice to voters, something even basic legislative proposals are expected to follow. Democrats now claim that law is merely a “guideline,” not a mandate a conveniently fluid view of legal obligations.

Should the appellate court uphold the ruling, Democrats won’t be able to place their amendment on the April 21 ballot, derailing what many view as a transparent power grab.

This move is especially concerning because Virginia voters already approved a bipartisan redistricting commission back in 2020 to take partisan gerrymandering out of the hands of lawmakers. Now Democrats unwilling to let voters or fair maps stand in their way are attempting to undo that progress and reassert full control over how congressional lines are drawn.

In short, Virginia Democrats are not fighting for democracy they’re fighting for domination.

If successful, this maneuver would echo similar Democrat efforts in states like New York and Maryland, where courts had to step in to block hyper-partisan gerrymanders that ignored legal norms and public trust. The message from voters has been clear they want fair maps, not political monopolies.

The Virginia Court of Appeals has not yet announced a date for its ruling, but the stakes couldn’t be higher. With one party trying to entrench itself permanently through procedural loopholes and judicial activism, the rule of law not political power must prevail.

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