Can Virginia’s Democrats Be Trusted With Power?

Virginia Democrats appear to be contemplating a scorched-earth option after their state’s high court put the kibosh on a partisan remap of congressional districts. The scheme was designed to tilt House control. “Everyone has got to have a strong stomach right now,” avers Congressman Suhas Subramanyam, mooting a “disaster” if “people are timid.” He’s urging state lawmakers to defy a state supreme court ruling by replacing the state’s top justices. It’s not clear whether Old Dominion Democrats have much appetite for the kind of escalation anticipated by Mr. Subramanyam. Governor Abigail Spanberger on Monday expressed skepticism, but Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan says the legislature will “look at all options on the table.” The Democrats’ consideration of a bid to reverse a ruling by the state’s top court reflects, per the Times, the “desperation and fury that have gripped the party.” Virginia’s high court on Friday had held, by four to three, that Democrats fell afoul of the state constitution by attempting to rig the voting districts. Proposals to amend the state constitution, the justices ruled, must be passed by two sessions of the legislature, with a general election in between, before being put before the voters for final approval. Yet the gerrymander amendment first passed the legislature on October 31, when the election had already started.Democrats fumed that the high court was attempting to overrule the voters’ will. Yet the party had insisted that the high court lacked authority to halt the referendum vote before it was conducted. By that logic, the court held, “judicial review of allegedly unconstitutional procedures used to adopt a constitutional amendment would not exist in the Commonwealth of Virginia.” That, it seems, would suit the Democrats just fine.Better yet, the Democrats appear to be musing, would be to eject all seven of the justices of the state’s highest legal tribunal and replace them with rubber-stamp ciphers. Such a démarche could entail, say, bringing the mandatory age of retirement for state supreme court justices to 54 from 75, the Times reports. Virginia’s justices are appointed by the state legislature, which is currently controlled by the Democrats. That upending of the state’s constitutional regime would, among other things, bolster the wisdom of the Framers when they enshrined in the Constitution the concept of life tenure for federal judges. Yet Mr. Subramanyam argues that the move would be justified because GOP-led states are “ignoring their constitutions and interrupting early voting and ignoring their Supreme Courts all together.” Virginia, though, is a state whose constitution requires voting districts to be drawn by a bipartisan commission. One could well question the merit of the partisan redistricting schemes in, say, Texas or Florida, but neither state’s charter constrains its lawmakers on this head by mandating neutral voting maps. The Democratic Party’s zeal this year to parry the GOP’s gerrymanders have come to suggest a worrisome lack of respect for the rule of law.More broadly, talk of defying Virginia’s high court hints at a risk to our constitutional institutions if the Democrats recapture majorities in the Congress and the White House. In that event, nothing would bar them from, say, removing protections against majoritarian rule like the Senate filibuster — or from packing the Supreme Court with a new majority of liberal justices. The Richmond rhubarb raises the question: Can the Democrats be trusted with power?This editorial was updated to reflect comments made by Governor Spanberger.

Can Virginia’s Democrats Be Trusted With Power?

Can Virginia’s Democrats Be Trusted With Power?

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