Virginia Democrats have officially entered the third stage of grief after losing last week at the Supreme Court of Virginia (SCOVA): anger. In the case of Virginia Dems, the anger is manifesting as an unhinged Hail Mary pass begging the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) to block SCOVA's Friday ruling that invalidated the April 21 referendum on redistricting.
On Monday, Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones asked SCOTUS to issue an emergency stay on the SCOVA ruling, arguing, "A stay is warranted because the decision by the Supreme Court of Virginia is deeply mistaken. Where a state court’s decision on purportedly state-law grounds was ‘interwoven with the federal law,’ this Court may intervene to ensure that the state court’s decision complies with federal law.”
Virginia Democrats have officially asked the United States Supreme Court to place an emergency stay on the Virginia Supreme Court’s ruling against the redistricting amendment pic.twitter.com/K793Rujxpy
— Brandon Jarvis (@Jaaavis) May 11, 2026
Curiously, Don Scott, the Democrat speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates – and an ex-con who was pardoned by Joe Biden on his last day in office – said in a statement issued on Friday: "We respect the decision of the Supreme Court of Virginia."
On Friday, Virginia Democrats claimed that they “respect the decision” of the Virginia Supreme Court.
— Virginia GOP (@VA_GOP) May 11, 2026
Yet now they are asking the Supreme Court of the United States to overturn the decision that they supposedly “respect.”
Just more proof that Virginia Democrats do not serve… pic.twitter.com/TSERdF7Qw3
Their behavior since has been anything but respect for SCOVA's decision. As RedState's Joe Cunningham reported on Sunday, Virginia Democrats held a confab over the weekend with party leaders, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and discussed a harebrained plan to force all seven SCOVA justices into retirement in order to bring back the lobster map. After one Virginia Democrat poured cold water on that scheme, it seems Jay Jones decided to make his move.
READ MORE: Democrats Plot Coup Against Virginia Supreme Court in Redistricting Fight
Heartbreak for Dems As VA Senate Majority Leader Delivers Crushing Blow to Latest Gerrymander Scheme
As RedState previously reported, the Virginia Supreme Court handed down a 4-3 ruling on Friday that dashed Democrat hopes of snatching four congressional seats away from Republicans via a gerrymandered map.
On March 6, 2026, the General Assembly of Virginia submitted to Virginia voters a proposed constitutional amendment that authorizes partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts in the Commonwealth. We hold that the legislative process employed to advance this proposal violated Article XII, Section 1 of the Constitution of Virginia. This constitutional violation incurably taints the resulting referendum vote and nullifies its legal efficacy.
Ken Cuccinelli, former Republican attorney general of Virginia, who has spoken – and written! – repeatedly in recent months about the unconstitutionality of the attempted gerrymander, mocked the desperation of Democrats and opined on X that "citing federal cases as persuasive (not controlling, ie, precedential) authority, as the #SCOVA did in its Friday ruling, does not provide the #SCOTUS w/ jurisdiction."
Uhhhh... citing federal cases as persuasive (not controlling, ie, precedential) authority, as the #SCOVA did in its Friday ruling, does not provide the #SCOTUS w/ jurisdiction.
— Ken Cuccinelli II (@KenCuccinelli) May 11, 2026
I think we need some remedial civics classes among certain Va. elected officials@ETI_now https://t.co/UtQeyeT2Ab
Some additional insight on the filing:
As expected, this is a crazy filing. Virginia makes two arguments in support of its request for an emergency stay.
— Ed Whelan (@EdWhelanEPPC) May 11, 2026
1. It contends that the state supreme court's interpretation of the Virginia constitution is "predicated ... on a grave misreading of federal law." But the court… https://t.co/5d2r8VLBLE
As expected, this is a crazy filing. Virginia makes two arguments in support of its request for an emergency stay.
1. It contends that the state supreme court's interpretation of the Virginia constitution is "predicated ... on a grave misreading of federal law." But the court merely cited a Supreme Court case as informative on, and supportive of, the general meaning of "election." This comes nowhere close to meeting the high bar of showing that the court ruled on a federal question.
2. Invoking the narrow exception left open in Moore v. Harper (2023), it contends that the court's ruling so “transgressed the ordinary bounds of judicial review such that it arrogated to itself the power vested in the state legislature to regulate federal elections.” But no justice is going to find the court's ruling manifestly bonkers.
Look for this stay application to be denied without any dissent.
This is a developing story. Stay with RedState for the latest on the attempts by Virginia Democrats to subvert SCOVA's decision.
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