TAZEWELL, Va. (AP) — A Virginia court on Thursday temporarily blocked Democrats from preparing for an April voter referendum to redraw the state’s congressional maps, handing the party another setback in its efforts to pick up four more U.S. House seats in the national redistricting battle.
The Tazewell Circuit Court in Virginia granted a temporary restraining order requested by the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee over the ballot referendum’s timing and phrasing.
The motion, also signed by Republican U.S. Reps. Ben Cline and Morgan Griffith, argued that Democrats were ramming redistricting-related bills through the legislature despite legal hurdles that prevent such a rushed process.
In a statement, the National Republican Congressional Committee said that for “a second time, the Virginia courts have ruled against Virginia Democrats’ partisan attempt to ignore their own Constitution and rig the system in their favor.”
Virginia House Democratic Speaker Don Scott rebuffed that notion.
“Republicans ran back to the same judge – even though the law requires these cases to be filed in Richmond – in a second attempt to take this issue away from the voters,” he said Thursday.