Virginia Dems accused of illegally ‘steamrolling’ state law that could upend redistricting crusade

By Fox News · Fox News

Virginia voters are set to decide a redistricting referendum Tuesday, even as a high-stakes legal challenge before the state’s Supreme Court argues the amendment should be invalidated because it was pushed through an unlawfully extended legislative session. The case centers on whether lawmakers violated the Virginia Constitution by keeping the special session open for nearly two years to pass the redistricting measure, a move critics say was an abuse of legislative authority. The measure, if it passes Tuesday and survives state Supreme Court scrutiny, would reshape the state's congressional map so that Democrats have a 10-1 advantage in the upcoming midterms. "The voters are the first hope that we have, and the best one," Jason Snead, executive director of Honest Elections Project Action, told Fox News Digital, warning that if the referendum passes, the Supreme Court decision could be "the last chance" before the next census to challenge the map. VIRGINIA DEM ADMITS REDISTRICTING PUSH AIMS TO 'STOP TRUMP', NOT ABOUT 'FAIRNESS' Snead's group this week submitted a brief to Virginia's highest court making the case that the legislative special session was improperly extended. "If you look at what the Constitution of Virginia requires and what the law requires, it’s very clear that what happened here was an illegally extended special session that essentially turned a part-time legislature into a full-time one," Snead said. "They kept it open for nearly two years and then used that to push through a constitutional amendment — and we think that’s a blatant violation of the limits the Constitution puts on legislative power." Virginia Democrats, led by Gov. Abigail Spanberger and House Speaker Don Scott, passed an amendment this year that they argued allowed them to bypass the typical redistricting process in the state to shift the current 6-5 map to 10-1. Scott told reporters in February the move was a direct response to national redistricting fights playing out across the…