Democratic Virginia House speaker says legislature will ‘respect’ Supreme court decision
Don Scott, the Democratic speaker of the Virginia House, said that the legislature will “respect the decision” of the state supreme court that rejects a voter approved ballot-measure to re-draw Virginia’s congressional map.
“Three million people voted in a free and fair election. We gave this decision to the voters – exactly where it belongs – and they spoke loud and clear,” Scott said in a statement. “That truth doesn’t change because of a court ruling … We respect the court. But we will keep fighting for a democracy where voters – not politicians – have the final say. Because in Virginia, power still belongs to the people.”
Key events
In honor of “Angel Moms”, Trump said they’ve rapidly turned “the most dangerous border in the history of our country into the strongest border in American history”.
“We have no people come in, during the last 11 months – we’ve had zero, zero”, Trump said.
Trump is referring to the number of border encounters by US border officials. The number of border encounters has reduced, due to the strong limits to asylum put in place in an executive border this past year.
Trump said on Friday afternoon that many “strong” mothers were joining them at the White House Rose Garden during lunch. He gave a special shout-out to “Angel Moms”, which is the term used to refer to mothers whose children were killed by undocumented immigrants.
“Among those with us this afternoon are a number of the ‘Angel Moms’, who saw their precious children stolen from them by the open border policies of the radical left”, Trump said. “Open borders? I call them stupid borders. Not open. Stupid borders. By stupid people that put them there”.
Trump speaks at the White House
President Donald Trump is delivering remarks at the White House Rose Garden this afternoon. He arrived to the podium to the song “God Bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood.
Stay tuned as we bring you the top lines.
Tim Kaine, a Democratic US senator from Virginia, spoke out today in opposition to the Virginia supreme court’s decision that struck down a new congressional map, according to reporting from NOTUS.
“The timing of this ruling speaks volumes”, senator Kaine said. “If the Virginia Supreme Court had legitimate concerns about this referendum, the time to stop it would have been before three million Virginians cast their ballots”.
Top US House Democrat says party is ‘exploring all options’ to overturn Virginia supreme court decision
Hakeem Jeffries, the US House minority leader, decried the ruling by the Virginia supreme court today that ultimately struck down a new congressional map, approved by voters.
“Over three million Virginia citizens cast their votes in a free and fair election, yet the State Supreme Court has chosen to invalidate their voice, disenfranchise them and violate their due process rights,” the top Democrat wrote in a statement. “The decision to overturn an entire election is an unprecedented and undemocratic action that cannot stand.”
He added that his party is “exploring all options to overturn this shocking decision” in order for Democrats to reclaim a majority in the House come November.
“Our fight is not over. We are just getting started,” Jeffries said.
Trump heralds Virginia supreme court decision as ‘huge win’ for GOP
Donald Trump took to Truth Social to welcome the news from the Virginia supreme court, calling it a “huge win for the Republican Party, and America”.
He called the new maps, approved by a majority of voters through a ballot measure, a “horrible gerrymander”. However, the president has been pushing lawmakers in deep-red states to re-draw their congressional maps to ensure that the GOP can retain its majority in the US House – currently a narrow five-seat margin.
Democratic Virginia House speaker says legislature will ‘respect’ Supreme court decision
Don Scott, the Democratic speaker of the Virginia House, said that the legislature will “respect the decision” of the state supreme court that rejects a voter approved ballot-measure to re-draw Virginia’s congressional map.
“Three million people voted in a free and fair election. We gave this decision to the voters – exactly where it belongs – and they spoke loud and clear,” Scott said in a statement. “That truth doesn’t change because of a court ruling … We respect the court. But we will keep fighting for a democracy where voters – not politicians – have the final say. Because in Virginia, power still belongs to the people.”
The ruling out of Virginia today could now bolster Republican hopes of keeping their majority in the US House in the midterms, particularly as a number of southern states, like Tennessee, Alabama and Louisiana have expedited re-drawing their congressional maps in favor of GOP majorities.
A reminder that the US supreme court’s decision last week to gut section 2 of the Voting Rights Act has essentially pushed GOP legislatures to quickly re-draw their maps ahead of November.
Virginia supreme court strikes down new congressional map
In a blow to national and state Democrats, the Virginia supreme court struck down a constitutional amendment, approved by voters last month that re-drew the state’s congressional districts.
The top court ruled that Virginia’s Democratic-majority legislature did not follow proper procedure in approving the referendum before it was put before voters.
The new map would have likely flipped four Republican seats blue in the upcoming midterm elections, and given Democrats a 10-1 advantage for Virginia’s congressional delegation.
Stay tuned for more on the decision.
Richard Luscombe
The White House has branded Star Wars actor Mark Hamill “a sick individual” after an AI-generated image showing Donald Trump in a shallow grave, with the words “If Only” as an overlay was posted to one of star’s social media accounts.
Hamill, who played the lead character of Luke Skywalker in six movies of the iconic science fiction franchise and is a longtime critic of the US president, apologized and removed the post from his Bluesky account on Thursday.
The American actor replaced it with another message clarifying that he was not advocating the president’s demise.
“Actually, I was wishing him the opposite of dead, but apologize if you found the image inappropriate,” Hamill wrote, adding that Trump “should live long enough to be held accountable for his crimes”.
The White House, through its Rapid Response 47 account on X, immediately seized on Hamill’s original post, which portrayed the president lying beneath a gravestone inscribed with “Donald J Trump, 1946-2024”.
“Mark Hamill is one sick individual,” the post said. “These Radical Left lunatics just can’t help themselves. This kind of rhetoric is exactly what has inspired three assassination attempts in two years against our President.”
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