Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

RandySF

(85,836 posts)
Sun May 10, 2026, 01:53 AM 19 hrs ago

How Virginia Democrats can retire the state Supreme Court

On Friday night, law professor Quinn Yeargain, a longtime contributor to The Downballot, was struck by an inspired idea. After the Virginia Supreme Court invalidated the April election greenlighting a new congressional map, supporters of the new districts were casting about for ways to overcome that ruling.

Quinn’s solution was brilliantly elegant. The state Constitution empowers lawmakers to set the mandatory retirement ages for judges, so why not just lower that age and immediately get an all-new Supreme Court? The Downballot rushed out a piece explaining Quinn’s proposal in detail, and it took off like wildfire.

It also prompted a lot of excellent questions. To answer them, Quinn and David Nir, the publisher of The Downballot, hopped on an impromptu livestream on Saturday evening. Among the topics they address:

- Why we proposed such a dramatic lowering of the retirement age.
- How quickly Virginia Democrats could make all this happen (preview: very).
- Why other efforts to address the Supreme Court’s ruling are either unlikely to work or can’t get deployed quickly enough.
- Why Virginia Democrats can’t simply ignore the court the way that Ohio Republicans did with their Supreme Court several years ago.



https://www.the-downballot.com/p/how-virginia-democrats-can-retire

1 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
How Virginia Democrats can retire the state Supreme Court (Original Post) RandySF 19 hrs ago OP
A Private Call Reveals Democrats' Desperation Over Tossing of Map (NYT gift article) LetMyPeopleVote 3 hrs ago #1

LetMyPeopleVote

(181,653 posts)
1. A Private Call Reveals Democrats' Desperation Over Tossing of Map (NYT gift article)
Sun May 10, 2026, 05:00 PM
3 hrs ago

I personally believe that given the ruling by Alito and other GOP gerrymandering, the steps outlined here are appropriate.



https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/10/us/politics/democrats-virginia-plans-gerrymandering.html?unlocked_article_code=1.hVA.KzAI.Wf17nRa9PSjl&smid=nytcore-ios-share

During a private discussion on Saturday that included Democratic House members from Virginia and Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the minority leader, the lawmakers vented anger at their defeat at the Virginia Supreme Court, spoke about a collective determination to flip two or three Republican-held seats under the existing map and discussed a bank-shot proposal to redraw the congressional lines anyway, according to three people who participated in the call and two others who were briefed on it.....

Any plans to enact a new congressional map for this year’s midterm elections would require action in the next few days. In a court filing last month, Steven Koski, the commissioner of the Virginia Department of Elections, said any changes to the maps after Tuesday, May 12, “will significantly increase the risk” of his agency being unable to properly prepare for the state’s scheduled Aug. 4 primary election......

One key to the plan would be having Democrats in Richmond lower the mandatory retirement age for state Supreme Court justices, an idea that began circulating among state lawmakers and members of Congress after a column proposing a version of the idea was published on Friday night in The Downballot, a progressive newsletter.

Ms. Spanberger would have to sign off on any legislation that lowered the judicial retirement age. She has not been briefed on the proposal, the people involved in the discussion or briefed on it said. Her spokeswoman, Libby Wiet, declined to comment.

The first step in the process, as discussed on the delegation’s call, would be to invoke a January ruling by a circuit court judge in Tazewell County, Va., that said the 2026 constitutional amendment effort to redraw the maps was invalid because county officials did not post notice of it at courthouses and other public locations three months before a general election.

Representative Suhas Subramanyam, a Democrat who represents Loudoun County, Va., said in an interview that he supported doing whatever was necessary to preserve the map voters approved in last month’s referendum — including replacing the state’s Supreme Court justices.

Everyone has got to have a strong stomach right now; this is a complete disaster waiting to happen if people are timid,” said Mr. Subramanyam, who was on the Saturday call. “We have Republican states ignoring their constitutions and interrupting early voting and ignoring their Supreme Courts all together. We know based on that, Republicans would explore every single option possible to move this forward.”....

In an interview on Friday night, before his Saturday meeting with Virginia lawmakers, Mr. Jeffries said he was “exploring how to unravel this decision.”

“It’s an all-hands-on-deck moment, and it’s unprecedented in American history as far as we can tell that an actual election has been overturned by a handful of unelected judges,” Mr. Jeffries said. “We’re not going to step back, we will continue to fight back.”

This is a very aggressive plan which could backfire. However, this plan may be necessary to stop trump's gerrymandering.
Latest Discussions»Region Forums»Virginia»How Virginia Democrats ca...