TAZEWELL, Va. (CN) - Virginia Democrats filed an appeal Wednesday after a local court ruled the legislators violated procedure in an effort to get a redistricting amendment on voters' ballots. 

"Today, we followed through on our commitment to appeal the Tazewell ruling," state Democratic leadership said in a statement. "This decision was legally flawed, unprecedented, and the product of court-shopping designed to block Virginians from voting on their own Constitution. We remain confident we will prevail, and we will continue moving forward to put this question directly to the voters - where it belongs."

The appeal, filed in the Virginia Court of Appeals, comes a day after Tazewell County Circuit Judge Jack Hurley Jr. sided with Republican leadership, who sued the Democrats and the clerks of the General Assembly. Republicans argued Democrats circumvented legislative procedure when they began the redistricting effort in response to President Donald Trump's calls on states, including Texas and North Carolina, to redraw congressional maps to help elect more Republicans. 

"Today's ruling is a decisive victory for the rule of law and Virginia voters,"  minority leaders Terry Kilgore and Ryan McDougle said in a statement Tuesday. "The court confirmed that Democrat legislative leaders unlawfully expanded a special session, violated their own rules, and attempted to force through a redistricting constitutional amendment while Virginians were already voting." 

Democratic Delegate Rodney Willett pitched the constitutional amendment containing trigger language that would allow Virginia to modify congressional districts if another state modifies its districts for reasons other than a court order. Democrats hope to have voters weigh in on the issue ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. 

The state constitution requires the General Assembly to give voters two opportunities to vote on representation before implementing any amendments. Democrats, who control both chambers, recalled legislators in October, where the amendment passed on party lines under the guise of a special session initially called in 2024 to correct a budgetary error. 

"What's happening today is a power grab by one party," Republican Delegate Chris Obenshain said on the House floor in October. "Rural voters are not a monolithic group. They are diverse, and they have their own needs, from the coal fields of Southwest Virginia to the farms of the Shenandoah Valley to the fishermen of the Eastern Shore and the tobacco industry in Southside. They each deserve to have a voice."

Hurley found Democrats broke their own rules for the special session when they acted on the amendment despite not receiving the unanimous vote needed to expand the session's scope to consider it and when they expedited the process without the support of a two-thirds supermajority. 

"Certainly, both houses of the commonwealth's legislature are required to follow their own rules and resolutions," Hurley wrote. "This blatant abuse of power by a majority ignores their own rules and resolutions, thereby trampling any and all procedural rights of the minority." 

Republicans also challenged the timing of the special session, which occurred after over a million Virginians voted early for the November election. The Republicans argue - and Hurley agreed - that the quick turnaround did not afford voters the chance to have their say through the voting of all 100 members of the House of Delegates. Democrats argued voters had the opportunity since the election was on Nov. 4, but Hurley disagreed. 

"For this court to find that the election was only on Nov. 4, 2025, those one million Virginia voters would be completely disenfranchised," Hurley said. "It is legal, acceptable and even encouraged for voters to take advantage of the earlier voting statute. There is no rational conclusion except that the election began on the first day of voting (Sept. 19, 2025) and ended on Nov. 4, 2025."

Hurley's ruling on the timing of the amendment's first passage would require Democrats to wait until the House of Delegates is up for reelection in 2027 to pass the amendment for the first of two times. Democrats passed a bill on Monday that would have set the voting date for April 21, but Hurley's ruling voids the effort. That same bill would have made Richmond's circuit court the venue for any further litigation. 

"This rogue decision is a disappointing, but temporary setback issued by a lower court that will be immediately appealed - where we're confident it will be overturned," Executive Director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Julie Merz said in a statement Tuesday. "The order issued today has no constitutional basis, but is instead a desperate attempt to keep electoral power out of the hands of Virginia voters."

Hurley also sided with Republicans on another challenge to the process regarding the clerks' actions. Virginia code requires clerks to publish and post the proposed amendment at the front door of every courthouse no later than three months before the next ensuing general election of members of the House of Delegates.

Democrats argue redistricting is necessary to combat the Trump administration. Virginia currently has six Democratic representatives and five Republicans. Democrats have yet to release their proposed map, but there have been discussions that they could tip the scales toward creating 10 safely Democratic districts and leaving only one safely Republican.

Christopher Newport University released a poll Wednesday indicating that the majority of voters prefer the current way Virginia redistricts. Legislators created a nonpartisan redistricting commission in 2021 that is supposed to meet every 10 years following the release of census data.

Source: Courthouse News Service