Tazewell, Va., Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley Jr. handed the Republican National Committee a major win on Thursday by granting the committee and its co-plaintiffs injunctive relief in their joint lawsuit against Virginia Democrats’ mid-decade redistricting gambit. The circuit court ruling comes one day after National Review’s scoop that the RNC, National Republican Congressional Committee, and two Republican congressmen had sued Virginia election officials over the constitutional amendment law, arguing that the referendum is deceptively worded, unconstitutional, and in violation of state code.
“All defendants are temporarily restrained in their official capacities from administering, preparing for, taking any action to further the procedure of the referendum, or otherwise moving forward with causing an election to be held on the proposed constitutional amendment,” Hurley wrote in his order. “The Court finds that Plaintiffs have an extraordinarily high likelihood of success on the merits.”
Click here to read Hurley’s order halting the proposed constitutional amendment, which was set to go before voters this spring and is now embroiled in a complicated and partisan legal fight. Republicans expect Democrats to immediately appeal the ruling.