Tazewell Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley Jr. struck down the Virginia legislature’s actions on three grounds, including finding that lawmakers failed to follow their own rules for adding the redistricting amendment to a special session.
His order also said Democrats failed to approve the amendment before the public began voting in last year’s general election and failed to publish the amendment three months before the election, as required by law. As a result, he said, the amendment was invalid and void.
Virginia House Speaker Don Scott, who was listed in Republicans' lawsuit over the resolution, said Democrats would appeal the ruling.
“Nothing that happened today will dissuade us from continuing to move forward and put this matter directly to the voters,” Scott said in a joint statement with other Democratic leaders.
Virginians for Fair Elections, a campaign that supports the redistricting resolution, accused conservatives of filing their lawsuit in a known GOP-friendly jurisdiction, saying, “Republicans court-shopped for a ruling because litigation and misinformation are the only tools they have left.”
Hurley’s ruling came after lawmakers said they would unveil their proposed new districts to voters by the end of this week.
The state is currently represented in the House by six Democrats and five Republicans from districts whose boundaries were imposed by a court after a bipartisan redistricting commission failed to agree on a map after the 2020 census.
Because the commission was established by a voter-approved constitutional amendment, lawmakers have to revise the constitution in order to be able to redraw maps this year. That requires the pass a resolution in two separate legislative sessions, with a state election sandwiched in between.
Virginians would have to vote in favor in a referendum.
