VA Courtroom Cannot Say If Dem Gerrymander Is Unlawful Till After They Strive It

A Virginia circuit court ruled that a referendum vote enabling Democrats to gerrymander U.S. congressional districts can move ahead, despite leaving open the possibility that the referendum itself could be illegal.

The case involved the City of Lynchburg suing to “pause early voting” or have the court “answer questions about the legality” of the referendum vote, as reported by Cardinal News. If approved by voters, the measure would allow Democrats to redraw the congressional map to gerrymander Virginia’s congressional districts to eliminate four Republican seats, giving Democrats a 10-1 advantage.

As The Federalist reported, Republicans have apparently been relying on untrustworthy courts to stop the referendum, while essentially ignoring a get-out-the-vote effort. They now have two days before early voting starts on March 6, with “Election Day” set for April 21.

In a Monday ruling, Judge Patrick Yeatts of the Lynchburg Circuit Court refused to rule on the substance of a lawsuit aimed at stopping the referendum vote from taking place, leaving the issue in the hands of the Virginia Supreme Court.

Yeatts also said that the constitutional questions about the election needed to be answered after votes were cast, as the referendum process was already in motion and it wouldn’t be “appropriate for him to intervene,” as reported by Cardinal News.

The decision is similar to one the Virginia Supreme Court made in a separate case — allowing the election to proceed, and saying that there could be room for litigation after the votes are counted. As The Federalist reported, one major concern with this approach is that it is extremely unlikely any court would overturn the results of an election, even if it decided that the election itself was illegal and should have never taken place.

Tim Anderson, attorney for Lynchburg and former Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates, said on social media that “the Lynchburg Circuit Court dismissed our action — not on the merits, and not because our constitutional arguments were wrong — but because the Court ruled it would not exercise jurisdiction until after the election is completed.”

“The dismissal was based solely on timing — the Court concluded that the constitutional challenges must be litigated after the election, not before it,” Anderson added. “That means none of the substantive constitutional issues were rejected. They remain live and will have to be litigated.” For his part, Anderson called Democrats’ gerrymandering referendum a “completely blatant illegal election.”

One of the issues from the lawsuit includes whether Democrats violated a constitutional 90-day submission timeline for constitutional amendments, stipulating that amendments cannot appear on a ballot before 90 days after the final adjournment of a legislative session. The purpose of that constitutional article is to prevent last-minute constitutional amendments from popping up without a deliberative process, which seems to be the goal of Democrats in Virginia.

With the Yeatts decision, Anderson said the city does not plan to appeal to the state Supreme Court. He added that all localities should administer the election as planned, and that challenges will be posed afterward, according to Cardinal News. “The court declined to answer and instead dismissed the action on essentially ripeness, saying that we couldn’t ask the questions until after the elections are over,” Anderson stated.

“There’s no next steps. I mean, we have an election on Friday. I’m not going to have a final order until Wednesday. I can’t springboard up to the Supreme Court on Wednesday and expect that they’re going to hear some kind of a case on Thursday,” he added. “We’re out of time.”

The entirely predictable outcome in the courts comes as national Republicans still appear inactive in grassroots efforts, and the state Republican Party is strapped for cash, unable even to afford television or social media ads. Instead, as The Federalist reported, they will have to rely on phone calls and door-knocking.

“The court has preserved our constitutional claims, and we will fight them, but that fight comes later. The fight for today is at the ballot box,” Republican Del. Wren Williams said, suggesting there might be building steam for a grassroots effort over the course of the month-and-a-half period Virginia has to vote.

But Democrats have already pumped millions into the state, and they have control of the state government: the General Assembly and the governorship, along with the offices of the lieutenant governor and attorney general. The latter’s office intervened in the Lynchburg case.

“Today the Office of the Attorney General stood up in court to protect the right to vote. The Lynchburg Circuit Court’s decision reinforces our position since the beginning — this election was properly called and will proceed as scheduled,” Attorney General Jay Jones, D-Va., said in a press release. “We will continue working closely with state and local officials to guarantee a fair and orderly process and to safeguard every eligible Virginian’s ability to make their voice heard on April 21. We will also continue to vigorously fight back against any efforts to interfere with Virginia’s ability to carry out statutorily mandated elections.”

Momentum clearly seems to be going in the Democrats’ direction, except for one poll suggesting Virginians actually oppose the gerrymander attempt. It will be up to Republicans to actually capitalize on that sentiment, instead of remaining stagnant.

If Democrats get their way, however, the new maps will be active for the 2026 midterms, virtually guaranteeing four current Republican members of Congress will automatically lose their seats.

Breccan F. Thies is the White House correspondent for The Federalist. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. As an investigative journalist, he previously covered education and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.