In what represents a massive setback for Virginia Democrats and opposing hopes for the midterm elections, the Virginia Supreme Court overturned the new electoral map that eliminated Republican representation in the state and declared it unconstitutional, leaving it “null and void.”
The map, which had been approved by voters in a referendum held last month, favored Democrats and even created a lobster-shaped district to harm Republican deputies, who went from having 5 seats for Congress to just 1, considering that Virginia sends 11 seats to Congress of the United States.
The state's highest court ruled that the General Assembly failed to meet the Commonwealth's constitutional requirements in holding the referendum. “While the Commonwealth is free, in its judgment, to do the right thing for the right reason, the rule of law requires that it be done the right way,” Judge Arthur Kelsey wrote in the
