05/28/2026
McLean Bible Church will be filing an appeal to the Virginia Supreme Court.
In Virginia, after a decision by the Court of Appeals of Virginia, a party can file a petition for appeal to the Virginia Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court has discretionary review in nearly all civil matters. That means the justices decide whether they want to take the case.
Since 2022, Virginia civil litigants generally get an appeal of right to the Court of Appeals first, but any further appeal to the Supreme Court is usually discretionary.
So for the McLean Bible Church litigation:
The losing side can petition the Virginia Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court can:
deny the petition and let the Court of Appeals ruling stand, or
grant the petition and hear the appeal.
The Court accepts only a limited number of appeals each year, usually where it believes there is:
a significant legal issue,
conflicting precedent,
constitutional importance,
or a major error needing clarification of Virginia law.
The key statute says an aggrieved party “may petition” the Supreme Court for an appeal.
And the Virginia judiciary itself states:
“Virginia does not allow an appeal to the Supreme Court as a matter of right” except for limited categories.
So unless the case falls into one of those narrow mandatory-review categories, the court is not required to hear it.
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