Supreme Court Declines to Block Virginia Supreme Court Redistricting Ruling

U.S. Supreme Court denied a stay of the Virginia Supreme Court's redistricting referendum decision in an order issued on May 15, 2026. The application for the stay had been presented to Chief Justice John Roberts.

Virginia Democrats filed an emergency appeal on Monday, May 11, 2026, after the Virginia Supreme Court struck down the state's redistricting referendum last week relative to May 15, 2026. The Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the legislative process in which the redistricting referendum was created was unconstitutional.

It invalidated an amendment to the Commonwealth's Constitution that authorizes the General Assembly to adopt new congressional maps.

Voters narrowly approved the redistricting referendum last month relative to May 15, 2026. The Virginia Supreme Court held that the General Assembly failed to pass the amendment prior to the "next general election" before passing it a second time and referring it to the people.

The court interpreted the term "election" in the Virginia Constitution to encompass the entire period of early voting beginning in September rather than a single day in November.

The decision occurred days before Virginia's deadline to begin administering the 2026 election for members of the United States House of Representatives. Based on that interpretation, the Virginia Supreme Court ordered the Commonwealth to conduct its election with the congressional districts that the people rejected.

§ 7, Michigan v. Long, and Moore v. Harper. The argument asserted that the Virginia Supreme Court predicated its interpretation of the Virginia Constitution on a grave misreading of federal law, which expressly fixes a single day for the "election" of Representatives and Delegates to Congress.

It further contended that by rejecting the plain text of the Virginia Constitution's definition of the term "election" to adopt its own contrary meaning, the Supreme Court of Virginia transgressed the ordinary bounds of judicial review such that it arrogated to itself the power vested in the state legislature to regulate federal elections. U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the decision below.

U.S. Supreme Court order and the denied application are both publicly available online. The high court did not give a reason for the rejection. Other states are also entering the redistricting fight after the Supreme Court ruled last month that Louisiana's second majority-black congressional district relied too heavily on race and was therefore an unconstitutional gerrymander.

Georgia and South Carolina this week called for special sessions of their state legislatures to discuss new congressional maps, though Georgia's maps would not take effect until the 2028 presidential election.