{"id":39,"date":"2026-05-19T21:07:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T21:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=39"},"modified":"2026-05-19T21:07:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T21:07:51","slug":"virginia-gerrymandering-decision-brings-out-dems-inner-insurrectionists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=39","title":{"rendered":"Virginia Gerrymandering Decision Brings Out Dems\u2019 Inner Insurrectionists"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to Forgotten Fact Checks. This week, we look at the Democrats\u2019 response to a Virginia Supreme Court ruling on redistricting, and we cover more media misses.<\/p>\n

Read more Virginia Democrats Escalate Redistricting Fight to U.S. Supreme Court<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018Give Us Gerrymandering or Give Us Death!\u2019<\/p>\n

When the Virginia Supreme Court rejected the state\u2019s mid-decade redistricting effort last week, Virginia House Speaker Don Scott issued a statement saying, \u201cWe respect the decision of the Supreme Court of Virginia.\u201d<\/p>\n

But in the days that have followed, it\u2019s become clear that many Democrats do not, in fact, respect the court\u2019s ruling, which dashed their hopes to create a map that favored their party by a margin of ten to one.<\/p>\n

While Virginia voters approved the new map in a referendum last month that cost the state $5.2 million, the court\u2019s majority found that the legislature made procedural errors in how it placed the question on the ballot last month, thereby rendering the referendum vote \u201cnull and void.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pundits and lawmakers are now floating several ideas to bypass the court, including open defiance or even a complete takeover of the court.<\/p>\n

Hasan Piker, the cosplay Communist, believes the court is giving leftists no choice but to resort to violence.<\/p>\n

\u201c[T]he va supreme court denied the results of the redistricting referendum. scotus gutted the voting rights act and tennessee carved up the last dem district destroying black voter power in the state,\u201d Piker wrote in a post on X.<\/p>\n

\u201c[T]hose who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Senator Ted Cruz replied to Piker\u2019s post saying, \u201cThis is who Democrats are campaigning alongside,\u201d a streamer who is \u201copenly calling for \u2018violent revolution.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Piker defended himself, saying, \u201cit\u2019s a jfk quote. you went to harvard. you know better.\u201d But social media users pointed out President John F. Kennedy\u2019s quote was not about legally sound court rulings, but instead about oppressive regimes in Communist countries such as Cuba \u2014 a country Piker believes has a lot to recommend it \u2014 denying their people basic freedoms.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the New York Times <\/em>reports that Virginia lawmakers are also \u201cdiscussing an audacious and possibly far-fetched idea for trying to restore a congressional map.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cmost dramatic\u201d idea the lawmakers floated, according to the report, was to go so far as to replace the entire Virginia Supreme Court in order to reinstate the map. That idea \u201cdrew mixed reactions,\u201d the Times <\/em>said.<\/p>\n

The report cited a \u201cprivate discussion on Saturday that included Democratic House members from Virginia and Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the minority leader, the lawmakers vented anger at their defeat at the Virginia Supreme Court, spoke about a collective determination to flip two or three Republican-held seats under the existing map and discussed a bank-shot proposal to redraw the congressional lines anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats \u201cdid not land on a specific course forward,\u201d the report adds.<\/p>\n

In order to replace the entire court, Democrats are considering an idea proposed by The Downballot<\/em>, a progressive newsletter, that suggested state Democrats move to lower the mandatory retirement age for state supreme court justices from 75 to 54, the age of the youngest current justice, or younger. Democrats hold a trifecta of power in Virginia and could lower the age, and then move to appoint Democrat-friendly judges to the court.<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Free-Range\u2019 Parents Being Hit with Neglect Investigations. A New Bill Would Change That<\/a><\/p>\n

New York Times <\/em>columnist Jamelle Bouie, for his part, urged Virginia voters to \u201ccall their delegates and senators and demand that they ignore this illegitimate ruling.\u201d<\/p>\n

NR\u2019s Charles C. W. Cooke called out the absurdity of the plan, asking readers to imagine what the reaction would be if it were President Trump floating a similar plan to keep himself in power.<\/p>\n

And still, the knee-jerk reaction of the mainstream media was to somehow blame Republicans.<\/p>\n

PBS News Hour <\/em>host Amna Nawaz, taking inspiration from California Governor Gavin Newsom, asked a recent panel on the show if Republicans are \u201crigging the system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newsom writes that there were no votes to change the maps in several Republican-leaning states which have advanced maps to pick up more red seats, including Tennessee, Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, and Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cVirginia\u2019s voter-approved maps are thrown out. MAGA has rigged the system,\u201d Newsom wrote, with Nawaz asking panelists, \u201cWhat do you make of that? Are Republicans rigging the system?\u201d<\/p>\n

Atlantic <\/em>staff writer David Brooks said, \u201cThis is a classic case of how democracy decays\u201d and spoke out about gerrymandering on both sides, though he suggested President Trump blew through the existing restraints and made the situation even worse.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, on MS NOW, law professor James Sample said that while the Virginia court\u2019s decision was \u201cprobably right on the law\u201d that it was nonetheless a \u201cdisaster for our democracy.\u201d In the same segment, MS NOW analyst Basil Smikle claimed Republican-led redistricting and the recent Supreme Court decision on racial gerrymandering are essentially \u201can American version of apartheid.\u201d We took on similar arguments in this column last week.<\/p>\n

Headline Fail of the Week<\/p>\n

The Daily Beast <\/em>leaned into fearmongering to generate clicks for its recent coverage of the Hantavirus: \u201cHealth Officials Confirm Worst-Case Scenario in Rat Virus Cruise.\u201d<\/p>\n

As NR\u2019s Noah Rothman pointed out, \u201cYou\u2019d have to read beyond the paywall to learn that the WHO has assured the public that this \u2018is not the next Covid.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Rothman also cites several news outlets that have taken a more down-to-earth approach in their coverage of the virus, including the New York Times <\/em>and NPR.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good to be cautious, but there\u2019s no need for concern over a global outbreak,\u201d one immunologist told the Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Read more Felon Who Allegedly Opened Fire on Boston Drivers Previously Convicted for Shooting at Cops<\/a><\/p>\n

Media Misses<\/p>\n