Jamelle Bouie: You Made Your Ruling. Now Enforce It Yourself.

[marmar]

May 8, 2026

Virginia voters passed a redistricting referendum last month that would have reduced Republicans to a single congressional seat in the state. Then the Virginia Supreme Court threw it out — on a technicality.

Nobody thinks the court would have ruled the same way if Republicans had won. The court said earlier in the year the referendum could proceed. They only decided it was illegitimate after seeing the results.

Democrats in Virginia — including the House speaker and Governor Spanberger — responded by accepting the ruling. That's the wrong call. Three million people voted. A court of four cannot erase that. The right answer is the one Republicans in Ohio and Florida have already demonstrated: you make your ruling, you enforce it yourself. Anything less is unilateral disarmament — and Democrats who won't fight on those terms should find another line of work.

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Exactly

Democrats must learn to defy court orders where strategically advantageous - just like everyone else.

[CivicGrief]

2. Too much rolling over to maintain the

appearance of maintaining decorum. Democrats have to stop acting as if their hands are tied. They have to figure out how to use the power they do have.

[DemocracyForever]

3. I totally agree

but I will say that the Virginia Attorney General is appealing to the SCOTUS. I put no faith in the GOP controlled SCOTUS but at least the Virginia Attorney General is trying. From my research it looks like redistricting was given to an independent commission in 2020 and there would need to be the constitutional amendment that was passed last month to give redistricting back to the Virginia legislature in order to be able to redistrict. There certainly should be judicial reform to put an end to the GOP controlling the Virginia Supreme Court. Beyond this, I guess the hope now is for other blue states that don't have this issue to redistrict in order to counter Trump's election stealing efforts