On May 8, the Virginia Supreme Court struck down the Democratic majority’s congressional redistricting plan, finding the legislature had bypassed the constitutional requirement of two separate sessions with an intervening election.

Justice D. Arthur Kelsey, writing for the majority, noted the amendment had been submitted “in an unprecedented manner.” Attorney General Jay Jones — who in 2022 texted that Republican House Speaker Todd Gilbert deserved “two bullets to the head” and hoped Gilbert’s children would die in their mother’s arms, then won the attorney general’s race in November 2025 despite bipartisan outrage — immediately framed the ruling as an assault on democracy.