MIKE DAVIS: Virginia court's gerrymandering decision unmasks Left's insanity

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

The Virginia Supreme Court correctly and courageously ruled Friday that a Democrat-backed gerrymandering referendum violated the Virginia Constitution. The ruling ensured that Virginia, a state that Republicans lost by only about 5% in 2024, would keep its 6-5 Democrat-Republican map, compared to the 10-1 Democrat map Democrats cooked up. Leftists went insane over the ruling. Since then, Virginia appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. The outlandish displays from Democrats to the decision are chilling but informative: If they ever gain power nationally again, the whole country will turn into what Virginia has become.

Gov. Abigail Spanberger ran as a "moderate." During her campaign of platitudes, she stayed away from the leftist proposals of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, instead focusing on kitchen table issues like affordability. Upon taking office, Spanberger unmasked herself, immediately ending Virginia’s cooperation with ICE. Leftist legislators began introducing proposals to authorize the prosecution of ICE agents, an insurrectionist display against the lawful assertion of federal authority. Spanberger rubber-stamped the radical state legislature’s leftist agenda—which included a slew of new tax increases and pro-crime policies—and topped it off by backing Virginia's gerrymandering efforts, along with former President Barack Obama, who previously decried gerrymandering.

The Left attempted to redistrict by lawsuit for decades in states it was not able to otherwise gerrymander. Alabama, Texas, and Louisiana all had cases before the Supreme Court in recent years to force illegal and unconstitutional race-based gerrymandering that produced some of the least capable DEI Members of Congress in the history of our Republic.

Leftists poured more than $60 million into the effort to ram the Virginia referendum through. The problem was that early voting had begun before the legislature voted in favor of sending the referendum to voters. Under the Virginia Constitution, two separate assembly votes must occur prior to submitting a referendum for voters’ approval or disapproval, with an election in between. Democrats argued absurdly that the first vote occurred prior to the election even though early voting was well underway in the election Spanberger eventually won.

DAVID MARCUS: VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS STEP ON A $70M RAKE AND NOW THEY'RE CRYING

Many warned this plan was unconstitutional, among them former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares. The determined and deranged Democrats did not listen. A trial court judge enjoined the referendum from proceeding, but Jay Jones, the radical leftist attorney general — who once supported the murder of children of his political rivals — argued the Virginia Supreme Court could not rule on the referendum's legality until after its completion, that is, after voters had gone to the polls. The Supreme Court agreed and allowed the referendum to proceed as Jones requested.

The referendum narrowly passed, and the Supreme Court then heard arguments over its constitutionality. In a 4-3 decision authored by Justice D. Arthur Kelsey, an appointee to the Court of Appeals by then-Gov. Mark Warner, a Democrat, the Supreme Court invalidated the referendum. The takeaway was clear: Legislatures may redraw maps, and even gerrymander, but gerrymanders cannot be race-based, and must be drawn according to the state’s law and constitution.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION

Leftists lost their minds after the Supreme Court’s ruling. Jones lambasted the decision as political — restrained rhetoric for a man who had fantasized about putting bullets in the heads of then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert’s children. Sen. Tim Kaine railed against the decision, huffing that the Supreme Court should have ruled prior to the referendum, never mind that the justices did exactly what Jones asked: permit the referendum to proceed, then rule on its lawfulness. Some online leftists urged Spanberger to ignore the court. The most ridiculous suggestion, however, would destroy Virginia's judiciary.

JONATHAN TURLEY: EX-CONSERVATIVE ICON JOINS LEFT'S RUTHLESS COURT-PACKING SCHEME

Michigan State University law professor Quinn Yeargain proposed that the legislature lower the retirement age of justices to 54, the age of the youngest justice in the majority. The whole court would then have to retire, the leftist legislature could select an entirely new bench, the new justices would rehear the case, and the referendum would pass. Another version of this fantasy involved challenging the constitutionality of Virginia's independent redistricting commission that voters approved in 2020.

Thankfully, enough sane Virginia Democrats put their collective foot down to stop this insanity. One accurately characterized the plan as "schizo hopium." Even though the deranged plan failed, it remains instructive. Imagine if Democrats achieve the trifecta: the House, the Senate, and the White House. They relentlessly bashed the U.S. Supreme Court and will undoubtedly continue when the justices decline to take up Jones’ absurd appeal of the Virginia Supreme Court’s ruling.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Leftists yearn to pack the U.S. Supreme Court, adding at least four justices. Virginia stepped back from the cliff that many demented Democrats wanted to jump over, for now. If radical Democrats assume power as they did in 2021, they will not hesitate to jump off that cliff and take the rest of the nation with them.

Vote accordingly.

CLICK FOR MORE FROM MIKE DAVIS

Michael R. Davis is the founder and president of the Article III Project.