Virginia Democrats File Redistricting Appeal to Wrong Supreme Court

Democrats in Virginia filed their redistricting appeal to the wrong Supreme Court, fueling fresh mockery amid a contentious fight over the state's congressional district lines.

Jason Miyares, former attorney general of Virginia, led the online criticism Tuesday. He highlighted a prior Democratic error in which they misspelled the state's name as "Virgnia" and "Sentator" instead of Senator in Supreme Court documents.

"Good news: Dems managed to spell Virginia correctly," Miyares posted on X. "Bad news: They sent their emergency application to SCOTUS to the wrong court."

"Baby steps," the former Republican attorney general added.

The emergency petition indeed carried the address "to the Supreme Court of Virginia" rather than the U.S. Supreme Court, according to a document image Miyares shared on social media.

Miyares' jab comes as Democrats recover from a Virginia Supreme Court ruling that rejected new maps crafted to favor their party in November midterm elections. Those maps would have eliminated up to four Republican-leaning districts.

Virginia's highest court ruled last week that Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger improperly rushed a constitutional amendment to lift state gerrymandering bans. The court found the amendment bypassed requirements for approval in two separate legislative sessions divided by an election.

By the time the General Assembly took it up last year, early voting for 2025 was under way. The court said this meant the sessions were not properly separated by a full election.

Virginia now asks the U.S. Supreme Court to review the state laws, claiming the state court "impermissibly transgressed the ordinary bounds of judicial review."