During a private discussion on Saturday that included Democratic House members from Virginia and Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the minority leader, the lawmakers vented anger at their defeat at the Virginia Supreme Court, spoke about a collective determination to flip two or three Republican-held seats under the existing map and discussed a bank-shot proposal to redraw the congressional lines anyway, according to three people who participated in the call and two others who were briefed on it.....

Any plans to enact a new congressional map for this year’s midterm elections would require action in the next few days. In a court filing last month, Steven Koski, the commissioner of the Virginia Department of Elections, said any changes to the maps after Tuesday, May 12, “will significantly increase the risk” of his agency being unable to properly prepare for the state’s scheduled Aug. 4 primary election......

One key to the plan would be having Democrats in Richmond lower the mandatory retirement age for state Supreme Court justices, an idea that began circulating among state lawmakers and members of Congress after a column proposing a version of the idea was published on Friday night in The Downballot, a progressive newsletter.

Ms. Spanberger would have to sign off on any legislation that lowered the judicial retirement age. She has not been briefed on the proposal, the people involved in the discussion or briefed on it said. Her spokeswoman, Libby Wiet, declined to comment.

The first step in the process, as discussed on the delegation’s call, would be to invoke a January ruling by a circuit court judge in Tazewell County, Va., that said the 2026 constitutional amendment effort to redraw the maps was invalid because county officials did not post notice of it at courthouses and other public locations three months before a general election.

Representative Suhas Subramanyam, a Democrat who represents Loudoun County, Va., said in an interview that he supported doing whatever was necessary to preserve the map voters approved in last month’s referendum — including replacing the state’s Supreme Court justices.

“Everyone has got to have a strong stomach right now; this is a complete disaster waiting to happen if people are timid,” said Mr. Subramanyam, who was on the Saturday call. “We have Republican states ignoring their constitutions and interrupting early voting and ignoring their Supreme Courts all together. We know based on that, Republicans would explore every single option possible to move this forward.”....

In an interview on Friday night, before his Saturday meeting with Virginia lawmakers, Mr. Jeffries said he was “exploring how to unravel this decision.”

“It’s an all-hands-on-deck moment, and it’s unprecedented in American history as far as we can tell that an actual election has been overturned by a handful of unelected judges,” Mr. Jeffries said. “We’re not going to step back, we will continue to fight back.”

Congressional Democrats are quietly kicking around a long-shot scheme to clear out Virginia's entire Supreme Court, which just torched their gerrymandered congressional map.

During a private Saturday call that included Virginia's Democratic House delegation and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), lawmakers vented over Friday's ruling and floated what The New York Times described as "an audacious and possibly far-fetched idea" to replace every sitting justice and reinstate their map, according to a Sunday report.

The scheme includes lowering the mandatory judicial retirement age from 75 to 54 — the age of the youngest current justice — forcing all seven off the bench. Virginia judges are appointed by the Democratic-controlled General Assembly, which could then stack the court with friendly replacements.

"The conversation reflected the desperation and fury that have gripped the party after the state Supreme Court struck down a favorable map that had been ratified by voters," the Times wrote, calling the mass ouster the "most dramatic idea they discussed."

The idea reportedly drew "mixed reactions" on the call, and Democrats did not land on a path forward. Gov. Abigail Spanberger has not been briefed, her spokeswoman told the Times. Former Rep. James Moran (D-VA) warned the gambit would be "just a bridge too far" and could backfire.

Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA), who was on the call, told the Times he supports doing whatever is necessary, adding: "Everyone has got to have a strong stomach right now; this is a complete disaster waiting to happen if people are timid."