Virginia’s Supreme Court has struck down a congressional map drawn by Democrats, just weeks after voters approved a statewide referendum changing the borders of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts. The new map could have allowed Democrats to win an additional four House seats in November’s midterm elections. Its defeat is a major blow to efforts by Democrats to counter redistricting by Republicans in other states, including Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. Meanwhile, officials in Alabama have asked the U.S. Supreme Court for permission to throw out Alabama’s congressional map, which has two majority-Black districts. Republicans are seeking to flip at least one of Alabama’s two Democratic-controlled House seats. Alabama’s emergency application came less than two weeks after the Supreme Court’s conservative majority gutted the last remaining major provision of the Voting Rights Act in a 6-3 ruling.