(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Virginia Democrats are seeking to have the U.S. Supreme Court review the state high court’s ruling against their redistricted map, but the filing was marred by a series of typos that undercut the seriousness of the appeal.
State Democrats on Friday asked the Virginia Supreme Court to delay enforcement of its ruling while they prepare what they described as an emergency petition to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The filing quickly drew ridicule online after two glaring spelling mistakes appeared in the document’s header.
Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott, who filed the appeal on behalf of House Democrats, misspelled “Virginia” as “Virgnia” while identifying his official title.
The filing also misspelled “senator” as “Sentator” while listing Republican state Sen. Ryan T. McDougle as an appellee.
Later in the filing, Scott asked the justices to delay the court’s mandate, writing that the appellants and the commonwealth “intend to file an Emergency Petition to the Supreme Court of the United States.”
Critics quickly noticed the glaring typos on the filing.
Former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares was among the first to mock the filing, writing on X: “First, if you are going to appeal to SCOTUS maybe don’t misspell Virginia????”
Miyares then shifted to a broader criticism of the appeal, saying that the “adequate and independent state grounds doctrine is a key principle of U.S. federalism.” It is this doctrine, he added, that “limits the U.S. Supreme Court’s jurisdiction to review decisions from state courts.”
First, if you are going to appeal to SCOTUS maybe don’t misspell Virginia???? pic.twitter.com/rmj1pFMfd6
— Jason Miyares (@JasonMiyaresVA) May 9, 2026
Miyares continued: “This is a motion that has zero chance to succeed and is Hail Mary to save face after wasting $70 million in political money and $10 million in taxpayer money on an illegal, unconstitutional gerrymandering amendment. This motion will be declared dead on arrival.”
Critics also resurfaced past scrutiny of Virginia’s newly elected attorney general, Jay Jones, who previously misspelled his title as “attoney general” in a social media post earlier this year.
Friday’s appeal followed after the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that constitutional amendments in the commonwealth must pass the legislature twice, with an election held between the votes.
Democrats passed the redistricting proposal first in 2025 before the general election, but after early voting had already begun. They then approved the measure a second time after Gov. Abigail Spanberger took office in January.
