Jad Khalil

That victory in the vote was the focus of a lot of the Democratic responses.

And they said, you know, broadly that this overturned the popular will.

They were kind of varied in different ways.

So some Democrats said that they'll try to appeal it to the U.S.

Supreme Court and others are just looking forward to the midterms.

With the old map, Democrats could still pick up one or two seats.

So that's sort of interesting.

But Republicans, on the other hand, are celebrating.

The court's ruling stems from Virginia's long constitutional amendment process.

It requires the legislature to pass the text of an amendment, then stand for re-election, and then pass it again before voters approve it.

Virginia Democrats had to sprint to get it passed in the first step and did so after early voting had already begun.

The Virginia Supreme Court said that, quote, irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum.

It's a major defeat for national Democrats who are counting on Virginia to blunt President Trump's redistricting push.

State Democrats also spent lots of political capital on the effort.

Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates Don Scott said they would respect the result of the referendum.

Likewise, it's a win for Republicans.

State Senate Minority Leader Ryan McDougal said the ruling was constitutional and not partisan.

For NPR News, I'm Jad Khalil in Richmond.

The court's ruling stems from Virginia's long constitutional amendment process.

It requires the legislature to pass the text of an amendment, then stand for reelection, and then pass it again before voters approve it.