Video Florida Gov. DeSantis pushes redistricting in wake of Virginia referendum A ‘Fox News @ Night’ panel analyzes the nationwide tug of war over redistricting.
"Incredible, unstoppable titan of terror!" Those words advertising the 1954 movie Godzilla could be the billing of a new freakish giant stretching across the sleeping farm fields of Virginia. Now in a court near you is The Lobster, a monster over 100 miles long. The only saving grace is that this creature only devours Republicans, leaving roughly half the state with virtually no representation in Congress.
Virginia was a quiet, pastoral state before the creature’s appearance. It was considered the gold standard among states rejecting gerrymandering, with fairly divided districts in a state divided right down the middle. It then elected a governor, Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who assured voters that she was adamantly against gerrymandering and then immediately called for the most radical gerrymandered map in the nation after she was elected.
The mad scientists who created this monster, now called the 7th Congressional District, created other weirdly shaped monstrosities designed to reduce a fairly evenly divided representation in the state to a 10-1 advantage for Democrats.
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While one lower court has struck down the plan, another district judge recently looked at the Lobster and ran for cover. Richmond Circuit Court Judge Tracy Thorne-Begland seems to follow the view of the 2019 Godzilla creators that "sometimes… the only way to heal our wounds is to make peace with the demons who created them."
What is most notable about the opinion is how irrelevant the Virginia constitutional and statutory standards are in the analysis. Among other things, the state law requires districts to be "compact," not crustacean-shaped. The Constitution states districts "shall be composed of contiguous and compact territory and shall be so constituted as to give, as nearly as is practicable, representation in proportion to the population of the district."
Without a suggestion of humor, the court states dryly that the new districts are "undoubtedly less compact than the ones they replace. They are certainly partisan gerrymanders. They displace both representatives and voters into new, oddly shaped districts."
In one of the most bizarre lines, the court declares, "reasonable and objective persons reached different conclusions on the effects of the 2026 maps. The issue of compactness is fairly debatable."
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Fairly debatable on compactness? It is a giant lobster stretching over 100 miles. It is a true "Godzilla!" spotting. But Judge Thorne-Begland just shrugged and walked away.
While the court is not the first to note how these terms are subject to different interpretations, the "subjectivity" cited by the court makes the standard largely meaningless. The compactness requirement has been described as "somewhat abstract" with no "bright line" test. Vesilind v. Va. State Bd. of Elections, 295 Va. 427, 444-45 (2018). However, this approach would effectively remove the language as holding any substantive interpretive meaning.
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Judge Thorne-Begland effectively holds that it is really not his job to fight the Lobster: "This Court knows its role is clear. It is not to assess the wisdom of public policy nor to engage in policy making from the bench."
There are a myriad of problems with the Virginia gerrymandering measure, from the vague language to the special sessions used to craft it. Thorne-Begland, however, shows the same reaction as the Japanese citizens in Tokyo who ran screaming from the creature’s approach as it crushed everything in its path.
It is not clear how the Virginia Supreme Court will rule on the matter. Many of us who have long opposed gerrymandering by both parties hope they will hold the line and reject this effort. It will take considerable courage. These justices rely on a democratically controlled legislature for their positions.
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The Supreme Court can do as Judge Thorne-Begland did and just take flight. They can treat the prior standards and procedures as aspirational or irrelevant. Or they can act as a true check on legislative excess and abuse.
In the end, the Japanese horror writers were right about one thing: "Godzilla and Biollante aren’t monsters. It’s the unscrupulous scientists who create them that are monsters."
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM JONATHAN TURLEY
Jonathan Turley is a Fox News Media contributor and the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University.
He is the author of the new book "Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution" (Simon & Schuster, Feb 3, 2026), on the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.on the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.
He is a nationally recognized legal scholar who has written extensively in areas ranging from constitutional law to legal history to the Supreme Court. He has written over three dozen academic articles that have appeared in a variety of leading law journals.
Professor Turley also served as counsel in some of the most notable cases in the last two decades including the representation of whistleblowers, military personnel, former cabinet members, judges, members of Congress, and a wide range of other clients.
Professor Turley testified more than 50 times before the House and Senate on constitutional and statutory issues, including the Senate confirmation hearings of cabinet members and jurists such as Justice Neil Gorsuch. He also appeared as an expert witness in both the impeachment hearings of President Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.
Professor Turley received his B.A. at the University of Chicago and his J.D. at Northwestern. In 2008, he was given an honorary Doctorate of Law from John Marshall Law School for his contributions to civil liberties and the public interest.
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