{"id":2596224,"date":"2026-04-28T15:32:01","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T19:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/virginia-supreme-court-denies-dem-ags-attempt-to-ram-through-gerrymander-vote-certification\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T15:33:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T19:33:44","slug":"virginia-supreme-court-denies-dem-ags-attempt-to-ram-through-gerrymander-vote-certification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/virginia-supreme-court-denies-dem-ags-attempt-to-ram-through-gerrymander-vote-certification\/","title":{"rendered":"VA High Court Denies Dems&#8217; Move To Certify Gerrymander Vote"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fvirginia-supreme-court-denies-dem-ags-attempt-to-ram-through-gerrymander-vote-certification%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2596224&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Virginia Supreme Court denied Attorney General Jay Jones\u2019s request to overturn an injunction that prevents the state Board of Elections from certifying results from a Democratic gerrymandering referendum. The court\u2019s brief \u201cdenies the motion\u201d ruling leaves in place a Tazewell Circuit Court decision in *Republican National Committee v. Koski* while additional legal challenges to the referendum continue through the courts.<\/p>\n<p>Republican lawmakers and legal observers say the decision suggests the court is taking procedural issues seriously-even if it did not rule on the case\u2019s merits. They point to related arguments in *Scott v. McDougle*, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/leftists-accuse-gorsuch-of-caring-too-much-about-normal-people\/\" title=\"Leftists Accuse Gorsuch Of Caring Too Much About Normal People\">involving alleged violations<\/a> of required process for placing the referendum on the ballot, including timing rules and special-session limitations. Separate issues highlighted in the Tazewell case include whether required waiting periods were followed before voters could cast ballots and whether the ballot language was misleading about what voters were deciding.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-body body-md bdr-top-black pt-30\">\n<div class=\"row justify-content-center\">\n<div class=\"col-12\">\n<figure class=\"article-thumbnail mb-30 mb-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-thumbnail-caption d-flex align-items-center justify-content-md-end label-xs mt-15\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-camera me-10\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Image Credit<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=iMoRT0qPbv0\">WTVR CBS 6 \/ YouTube<\/a>       <\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-share text-center article-share-simple\">\n<h5 class=\"label-sm mb-10\">Share<\/h5>\n<ul class=\"article-share-list list-unstyled m-0 p-0\">\n<li class=\"article-share-facebook m-0\">       <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/04\/28\/virginia-supreme-court-denies-dem-ags-attempt-to-ram-through-gerrymander-vote-certification\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-facebook\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article on Facebook<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-twitter m-0\">       <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=Virginia Supreme Court Denies Dem AG\u2019s Attempt To Ram Through Gerrymander Vote Certification&#038;url=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/04\/28\/virginia-supreme-court-denies-dem-ags-attempt-to-ram-through-gerrymander-vote-certification\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-twitter\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article on Twitter<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-truth-social m-0\">       <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/share?title=Virginia Supreme Court Denies Dem AG\u2019s Attempt To Ram Through Gerrymander Vote Certification&#038;url=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/04\/28\/virginia-supreme-court-denies-dem-ags-attempt-to-ram-through-gerrymander-vote-certification\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" fill=\"currentColor\" style=\"width:36px;height:auto;\" viewbox=\"0 0 92 93\"><path d=\"M69.444 55.716H56.772v10.37h12.672zM64.487 37.795V27.32H38.666v38.664h13.18v-28.19zM21.05 27.321h12.653v10.471H21.051z\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/><\/svg>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article on Truth Social<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-link m-0\">       <button data-clipboard-text=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/04\/28\/virginia-supreme-court-denies-dem-ags-attempt-to-ram-through-gerrymander-vote-certification\/\" data-tooltip-content=\"Copied!\" class=\"clip tooltip\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-link-variant\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Copy Article Link<\/span>       <\/button>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-email m-0\">       <a href=\"mailto:?subject=Virginia Supreme Court Denies Dem AG\u2019s Attempt To Ram Through Gerrymander Vote Certification&#038;body=If the the Supreme Court takes process seriously, the case before them now is almost certain to invalidate the referendum.%20https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/04\/28\/virginia-supreme-court-denies-dem-ags-attempt-to-ram-through-gerrymander-vote-certification\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-email\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article via Email<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-email m-0\"><span class=\"printfriendly pf-button  pf-alignleft\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\" rel=\"nofollow\" onclick=\"window.print(); return false;\" title=\"Printer Friendly, PDF &#038; Email\"><span id=\"printfriendly-text2\" class=\"pf-button-text\"><i class=\"mdi mdi-printer\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<p>The Supreme Court of Virginia has denied a motion from Attorney General Jay Jones, D-Va., to nix an injunction that blocks the state Board of Elections from certifying the election results of Democrats\u2019 attempt to gerrymander the commonwealth\u2019s congressional districts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUpon consideration whereof, the Court denies the motion,\u201d the court\u2019s short rejection <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/WrenWilliamsVA\/status\/2049150974892118424?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> Tuesday. Jones filed a motion to stop a Tazewell Circuit Court\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/04\/24\/va-gerrymander-language-is-so-dishonest-dems-refuse-to-defend-it-in-court\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">blanket ruling<\/a> that invalidated the entire gerrymander measure election, declared it unconstitutional from the beginning, and blocked the vote from being officially certified. The state high court\u2019s denial is similarly plenary.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2 d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-818318438\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1463670073398-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>As Republican state Del. Wren Williams <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/WrenWilliamsVA\/status\/2049150974892118424?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a>, \u201cOne sentence. No dissent. No partial relief.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>While the court did not rule on the merits of the case, the denial of the motion means the Tazewell ruling in <em>Republican National Committee v. Koski<\/em> will remain in effect while the court considers the several cases challenging the gerrymandering referendum that are making their ways through the judicial system.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/04\/28\/to-virginia-supreme-court-democrats-lawyer-admits-gerrymandering-vote-is-irrelevant\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">speculated<\/a> that the Supreme Court leaving the injunction in place could indicate the court\u2019s willingness to invalidate the entire gerrymander, and Williams described the decision as a \u201cstrong signal that process matters in Virginia.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Process has been at the heart of the constitutional questions from the beginning of the gerrymander push back in October 2025, and is the primary source for legal challenges to the referendum.<\/p>\n<p>As The Federalist <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/04\/28\/to-virginia-supreme-court-democrats-lawyer-admits-gerrymandering-vote-is-irrelevant\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>, one case argued before the Supreme Court on Monday, <em>Scott v. McDougle<\/em>, deals with a rigged special session in 2025, where the Democrats in the General Assembly rammed through the initial passing of the referendum four days before an election \u2014 after more than 1.3 million Virginians had voted due to the commonwealth\u2019s 45-day voting marathon before \u201cElection Day.\u201d Those Virginians had no idea they would be essentially voting for or against that referendum \u2014 a seemingly blatant breach of rules requiring two different General Assemblies to approve a referendum with an intervening election of the General Assembly, in order to allow voters to have a say before the referendum is itself placed on the ballot.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats also passed it in apparent contravention of the rules of the special session, which is limited in scope and was not called to deal with such a referendum.<\/p>\n<p>If Williams is correct that the Supreme Court takes process seriously, <em>Scott v. McDougle<\/em> is almost certain to invalidate the referendum. However, the <a href=\"https:\/\/statecourtreport.org\/sites\/default\/files\/2026-03\/rnc-complaint.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">case<\/a> in which the Tazewell Circuit Court issued the injunction (left in place by the Supreme Court on Tuesday) addresses a different set of procedural issues related to the constitutionally required second passage of the referendum and a mandated waiting period before it is presented to voters.<\/p>\n<p>Among other things, that case raises the issue of the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >required 90-day waiting period<\/a> between final passage of a referendum and its submission to voters. Since final passage happened on Jan. 16, 2026, \u201cthe <em>earliest<\/em> that voting can begin is April 16, 2026\u201d (emphasis in original). However, because of the 45 days of early voting, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jay-jones-texts-reprehensible-and-inexcusable-shapiro\/\" title=\"Jay Jones texts \u2018reprehensible and inexcusable\u2019: Shapiro\">voters began casting ballots<\/a> on the redistricting measure on March 6, only 49 days after final passage.<\/p>\n<p>The Tazewell case also addresses the issue of the extremely lopsided <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/04\/24\/va-gerrymander-language-is-so-dishonest-dems-refuse-to-defend-it-in-court\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ballot language<\/a>, claiming that gerrymandering would \u201crestore fairness in the upcoming elections\u201d \u2014 a point of contention that the Tazewell court called \u201cflagrantly misleading.\u201d Jones attempted to brush off objections to the language by dancing around the concern in his defense, calling the wording \u201crhetorical choices.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cuccinelli said Monday that he believes the <em>Scott v. McDougle<\/em> case in the Supreme Court has the highest chance of being successful of all the cases, and that the high court not moving quickly on the merits of the <em>RNC v. Koski<\/em> case in Tazewell could indicate willingness to rule in favor of the anti-gerrymander side.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">      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.<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-author mt-30 mt-sm-60 pt-30 bdr-top-bold-black\">\n<div class=\"row g-0 align-items-center\">\n<div class=\"col-12 col-md-6\">\n<div class=\"article-author-profile d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center justify-content-md-start\">\n<div class=\"article-author-details\">\n<div class=\"label-md\">Breccan F. Thies<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-author-twitter label-sm d-flex align-items-center mt-10\">             <i class=\"mdi mdi-twitter me-5\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>             <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Visit on Twitter<\/span>            <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreccanFThies\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text-decoration-none\">@BreccanFThies<\/a>           <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-md-6 d-flex justify-content-center justify-content-md-end mt-15 mt-md-0\">        <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/author\/breccan-thies\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">More Articles<\/a>     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-tags bdr-top-black mt-30 mt-sm-60 pt-15 pt-md-45\">\n<ul class=\"list-unstyled d-flex flex-wrap align-items-center mb-0 mx-n10 p-0\">\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/gerrymandering\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">gerrymandering<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/jay-jones\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Jay Jones<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/ken-cuccinelli\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Ken Cuccinelli<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/supreme-court-of-virginia\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Supreme Court of Virginia<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/tazewell-circuit-court\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Tazewell Circuit Court<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/virginia\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Virginia<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/virginia-supreme-court\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Virginia Supreme Court<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/wren-williams\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Wren Williams<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Supreme Court of Virginia denies AG Jay Jones\u2019 bid to lift injunction blocking certification of gerrymandered results<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":2596227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-28-135327.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[33739,22850,32275,5468,32570],"class_list":["post-2596224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-election-law","tag-gerrymandering","tag-supreme-court","tag-virginia","tag-voting-rights"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-28-135327.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2596224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2596224"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2596224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2596229,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2596224\/revisions\/2596229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2596227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2596224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2596224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2596224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}