Virginia Democrats faced online criticism Friday after a court filing in the state’s redistricting fight appeared to include spelling errors on its first page, including “Virgnia” instead of “Virginia” and “Sentator” instead of “Senator.”
The document that appears in the filing is titled “Joint Motion to Delay Issuance of Mandate” and is before the Supreme Court of Virginia. The decision came after the state’s high court struck down the redistricting referendum, with Democrats seeking more time as they prepared to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The first page appears to misspell “Virginia” in a reference to the Virginia House of Delegates. It also appears to misspell “Senator” in a reference to Ryan T. McDougle, a Virginia state senator and legislative commissioner for the Virginia Redistricting Commission.
Former Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares criticized the filing on X, writing, “First, if you are going to appeal to SCOTUS maybe don’t misspell Virginia????”
Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, also wrote on X by pointing to the misspelling, which read, “And ‘Sentator.’”
The errors seen in the filing quickly circulated on social media. Republicans and social media users argued that the mistakes were embarrassing due to the filing’s connection to a major legal battle over Virginia’s redistricting process.
The criticism also widened to Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones after a separate press release graphic appeared to misspell “attorney.” Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli called that error “Painful. Humiliating,” according to his post on X.
The spelling errors in the filing do not determine the legal merits of the redistricting case. But they gave critics a sharp political opening as Democrats sought to keep the dispute alive for possible federal review.
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