BREAKING: Unanimous SCOTUS Rejects VA Dems Attempt to Reinstate Referendum

So much for the “radical courts,” eh? 

Virginia Democrats, led by Attorney General Jay Jones, wanted the US Supreme Court to overrule the Virginia state supreme court on how to read the state constitution. Jones, Hakeem Jeffries, and other leading Democrats insisted that the 4-3 SCOVA decision was a miscarriage of justice, so much so that it crossed federal law.

Not one justice on the Supreme Court agreed:

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a bid by Virginia Democrats to revive its new voter-approved congressional map that was drawn to advantage the party for the upcoming midterm elections.

In an unsigned one-sentence order, the Supreme Court left intact a ruling from Virginia’s highest court that invalidated an amendment to the state constitution authorizing adoption of the new House district lines. 

The application for the stay came to Chief Justice John Roberts, who called for briefs from all interested parties by 5 pm ET yesterday. The one-line order notes that Roberts referred it to the whole court, and … 

The application for stay presented to The Chief Justice and by him referred to the Court is denied.

No justice dissented or objected to the denial, at least not on the record. And that speaks volumes about the argument from VA Democrats who argued that the will of the voters overrides the provisions of the state constitution, as well as arguing that there was ever a federal case in the first place. 

NBC News notes that the fight had gone out of the VA Dems already. Their report also notes the lack of dissent in this dismissal:

The brief decision with no dissents leaves in place a ruling by the Virginia Supreme Court that found legal flaws in the process leading up to the referendum.

The legal fight had fizzled in recent days, with Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger saying Wednesday that the deadline to use a new map in Virginia had expired anyway.

CNN oddly mentions the 6-3 split in Callais before reporting the lack of dissents in this order. Oddly, of course, is a term of art:

The Supreme Court on Friday tossed out an emergency request from Virginia officials to reinstate a congressional map that would have benefited Democrats in this year’s midterm election, a widely expected decision that represented the court’s latest foray into a nationwide redistricting war.

The decision thwarts Democratic plans to use the new map to pick up as many as four additional seats in the House of Representatives this year.

The 6-3 conservative court has recently sided with Republicans in Louisiana and Alabama – permitting those states to quickly redraw their maps. But the Virginia case dealt more squarely with questions of state law rather than federal questions, and many experts predicted that the appeal was, at best, a Hail Mary.

There were no noted dissents. and the court did not explain its reasoning in the one-sentence order.

So why mention the 6-3 split at all, except to suggest partisan motives that clearly don’t apply to this case? Perhaps it’s just because there’s not really much to say at all. This not just a long shot appeal, but one that had no shot at all, ever. The appeal was a political move to generate anger over VA Dems getting caught cheating in the first place and attempting to blame the court for following the law. 

[more to come]

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