Opinion

KEN CUCCINELLI: Virginia voted yes, will the courts vote the same way?

Virginia’s Constitution has rules about how it may be changed, and those rules exist to prevent the kind of rushed, extreme rewrite that occurred here

By Ken Cuccinelli Fox News

Published April 23, 2026 11:23am EDT

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Virginia redistricting map ruled unconstitutional, sparking nationwide debate

Republicans in Virginia celebrate a circuit court ruling that the Democrat-led redistricting map was unconstitutional. Salena Zito, a Pittsburgh-based columnist, joined 'Fox & Friends First' to react.

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On April 21, Virginia voters narrowly approved a referendum to let the Democrat-controlled General Assembly redraw the state’s congressional map, replacing districts drawn by the bipartisan commission voters themselves created in 2020 by a huge 2 to 1 margin. The margin on this week’s referendum was slim — roughly 51.5 percent to 48.5 percent. But the vote, dramatic as it was, is not the final chapter. Three lawsuits, raising four distinct (state) constitutional challenges, are already in courts. And the institution that will ultimately decide whether this referendum stands is not the United States Supreme Court. It is the Supreme Court of Virginia.

All of the challenges here are rooted entirely in the Virginia Constitution — specifically, in whether the General Assembly followed Virginia’s own rules for amending its Constitution. This fight begins and ends in Richmond.

The first two challenges, already before the Virginia Supreme Court, attack the process by which the amendment received its first passage on October 31, 2025. Virginia’s Constitution, in Article XII, Section 1, prescribes a specific........

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