Gerrymandering: Supreme Court delivers major setback to Democrats after rejecting reinstatement of Virginia's new electoral map

In an unexpected turn of events, Democrats suffered a tremendous setback in the redistricting war heading into the midterms after the Supreme Court refused to step in and reset Virginia's controversial new electoral map, which gave them a potential 10-1 advantage over Republicans.

Last week, on May 8, the Virginia Supreme Court struck down the new electoral map that would have given Democrats four new seats, leaving the state's federal congressional apportionment at a potential 10-1 over Republicans. The electoral map, which sparked nationwide uproar, was approved in a close referendum, with 51.5% voting yes and 48.6% voting no. The map reconfigured four Republican districts into Democratic-leaning areas.

However, Republicans moved quickly and challenged the electoral map in court, arguing that the Democrats violated the procedural guidelines required to pass the amendment on the new electoral map by initiating the process once an election was already underway. The Democrats rejected the argument, asserting that state lawmakers had voted in time, as they acted a few days before the election, even though early voting was already underway. They also argued that the state Supreme Court had no business altering the will of the voters.

The Virginia Supreme Court's final decision to overturn the map was close: four votes to three.

The justices argued that Democratic lawmakers had violated the state constitution by addressing redistricting after early voting was already underway, with more than a million voters having exercised their right to vote without the ability to vote on the redistricting amendment.

Faced with the local Supreme Court's ruling, Democrats sought emergency intervention before the nation's Supreme Court, which declined to intervene, delivering a major blow to the Democratic Party.

The justices' emergency order did not provide a vote count or explain the decision, as is typical in such rulings. There were no dissenting votes within the high court.

According to The New York Times, the Supreme Court does not usually meddle in state supreme court rulings interpreting state constitutions, as is the current case.

Either way, with these two rulings, the Democrats suffered a key defeat in the gerrymandering, where Republicans already made headway with redistricting in states such as Texas, Florida, Ohio, Missouri, North Carolina and Tennessee. It remains to be seen what happens in South Carolina and Alabama.

Democrats, on the other hand, have only redrawn districts in Utah and California.

According to a NYT tally, Republicans are winning the gerrymandering war, with a potential gain of 6-8seats. However, the figure could rise to 8-10 if South Carolina and Alabama carry out redistricting. If Virginia's new electoral map were approved, the Democrats would be much closer to the Republicans.