Virginia’s Attorney General has appealed Democrats’ redistricting loss to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In the legal filing, Attorney General Jay Jones asks the nation's highest court to halt the ruling of the state’s highest court.
Jones did not offer additional comment. In a phone call late Monday Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell spoke on the issue, moments before the appeal to SCOTUS was filed.
“First of all, I can totally understand why a lot of people are extraordinarily upset that the Supreme Court of Virginia threw out 3 million votes," Surovell told Radio IQ. "The plan is we plan to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Jones’ legal filing argues the Supreme Court of Virginia overstepped its authority in trying to intervene in the state legislature setting the rules for a federal election.
He also claims the state’s high court made a “grave misreading of federal law, which expressly fixes a single day for the ‘election’ of Representatives and Delegates to Congress.”
Surovell explained it as such: “Both the United States Constitution and federal law, in terms of how the United States defines ‘federal elections,’ and while the state can regulate the manner of an election, we don’t get to regulate when an election is.”
The argument comes after the Supreme Court of Virginia found the first vote held by legislators, beginning the constitutional amendment process, took place during an ongoing election, voiding its result.
The filing seeks an administrative stay of the state court’s ruling, but it needs it fast.
Surovell said the computers used in Virginia elections are old and require time to program. He pointed to a May 12th deadline from the Virginia Department of Elections, including in earlier court briefs, that likely puts changes this year out of reach unless SCOTUS intervenes.
