Hakeem Jeffries’ Plan to Fire the Virginia Supreme Court Just Got Crushed From A Quarter He Never Expected

Hakeem Jeffries spent last Saturday on a call plotting to fire the entire Virginia Supreme Court.

Then his own party's top man in Richmond picked up the phone.

What Jeffries heard next ended the scheme before it ever got started.

The Virginia Supreme Court Redistricting Ruling That Sent Democrats Into Court-Packing Mode

The Virginia Supreme Court handed Democrats a brutal ruling on May 8th – tossing out a redistricting referendum that would have transformed Virginia's congressional delegation into a 10-to-1 Democratic advantage heading into the 2026 midterms.

Democrats had tried to ram through a constitutional amendment to redraw Virginia's maps, but the court found they violated the state constitution's required procedures – specifically, they failed to pass the amendment before an intervening election as the constitution demands.

That ruling nuked the plan entirely.

So Jeffries got on a call Saturday with Virginia Democratic House members and started floating options.

The most extreme idea on the table was breathtaking in its audacity – lower the mandatory retirement age for Virginia Supreme Court justices from 75 down to 54, forcing out the entire sitting bench.

Democrats would then pack the vacancies with what the New York Times described as "sympathetic Democratic lawyers" – judges who would reverse the ruling and reinstate the gerrymander.

Why Jeffries Lost His Virginia Gerrymander Scheme and the 2026 Midterms With It

Virginia State Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell didn't wait long to bury it.

Surovell told Virginia Scope Monday morning that the plan is dead – calling the court-packing scheme extreme and stating he intends to work within the existing legal system.

He also pointed to the calendar.

Elections Commissioner Steven Koski had already stated under oath that the Department of Elections needed any map changes locked in by May 12th – the day after Surovell spoke – to have any hope of processing them before the August primaries.

Former GOP Delegate Tim Anderson laid out the math plainly: even if Democrats somehow managed to dismantle and reconstitute the entire court before midnight Tuesday, the redistricting amendment would still be dead.

Constitutional scholar Ed Whelan of the Ethics and Public Policy Center dismantled the scheme on the merits too.

The Virginia Constitution provides exactly one mechanism for removing a sitting judge – impeachment by the House of Delegates, followed by conviction by two-thirds of the Senate.

Retroactively applying a lowered retirement age to sitting justices isn't a legal workaround.

It's unconstitutional on its face, and a majority of the justices – the very ones Democrats wanted gone – would have ruled it so.

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The Two Black Justices Democrats Were Willing to Fire for the Gerrymander

Here's what Jeffries and company were actually proposing.

Two of the justices targeted for removal are Black – including the first Black woman ever to serve on the Virginia Supreme Court.

The entire scheme would have wiped out those historic seats to engineer an easier congressional district for Dan Helmer, a Democrat who has lost three consecutive congressional races and still can't win one.

Republican National Committee Chair Joe Gruters put the original ruling plainly: "Democrats just learned that when you try to rig elections, you lose."

Jeffries is still vowing a "massive counteroffensive" in a Monday letter to House Democrats, promising redistricting fights in blue states and new lawsuits against GOP maps.

But in Virginia – where he spent tens of millions and tried hardest – his own party told him no.

The gerrymander is dead.

The court-packing scheme is dead.

Republicans are now positioned to gain six to seven net House seats from the redistricting battle Jeffries started.

All that's left is the bill.

Sources:

• Sister Toldjah, "Heartbreak for Dems As VA Senate Majority Leader Delivers Crushing Blow to Latest Gerrymander Scheme," RedState, May 11, 2026.
• Brandon Jarvis, "The Rumors That Did Not Pan Out," Virginia Scope, May 11, 2026.
• Joe Squire, "Democrats Plot Coup Against Virginia Supreme Court in Redistricting Fight," RedState, May 10, 2026.
• "Rep. Hakeem Jeffries Pledges Response to Virginia Redistricting Ruling," The Hill, May 11, 2026.
• "Breaking: National Democrats Want to Remove and Replace Entire Virginia Supreme Court," HotAir, May 10, 2026.