Posted on 07/22/2016 7:33:05 PM PDT by randita
The Supreme Court of Virginia on Friday struck down Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s executive order restoring voting rights to 206,000 felons, dealing a severe blow to what the governor has touted as one of his proudest achievements in office.
In a 4-3 ruling, the court declared McAuliffe’s order unconstitutional, saying it amounts to a unilateral rewrite and suspension of the state’s policy of lifetime disenfranchisement for felons.
The court ordered the Virginia Department of Elections to “cancel the registration of all felons who have been invalidly registered” under
McAuliffe’s April 22 executive order and subsequent orders. As of this week, 11,662 felons had registered to vote under McAuliffe’s orders. The court gave a cancellation deadline of Aug. 25.
McAuliffe, a Democrat, took the sweeping action in April, saying he was doing away with an unusually restrictive voting policy that has a disproportionate impact on African-Americans. In a legal challenge, Republican leaders argued McAuliffe overstepped his power by issuing a blanket restoration order for violent and nonviolent felons with no case-by-case review.
The court majority found that McAuliffe did indeed overstep his authority.
“Never before have any of the prior 71 Virginia governors issued a clemency order of any kind — including pardons, reprieves, commutations, and restoration orders — to a class of unnamed felons without regard for the nature of the crimes or any other individual circumstances relevant to the request,” Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons wrote in the majority opinion.
“To be sure, no governor of this commonwealth, until now, has even suggested that such a power exists. And the only governors who have seriously considered the question concluded that no such power exists.”
(Excerpt) Read more at richmond.com ...
The decision might have helped to push the decision by Hillary to pick someone from Virginia.
NOT!!!!
he’d fit right in with another felon in Hitlery. What a pair..
Laws are meaningless to liberals
Ah shoot, you mean he doesn’t get to hand 200,000 voters to Hillary this November?
Yes, they can never again be trusted with an inanimate piece of metal, yet wielding power over the lives of millions of fellow citizens should be fine, right?
He should have first consulted the “Constitutional Scholar” occupying the White House.
Can he do this???
https://governor.virginia.gov/newsroom/newsarticle?articleId=16047
“I will expeditiously sign nearly 13,000 individual orders to restore the fundamental rights of the citizens who have had their rights restored and registered to vote. And I will continue to sign orders until I have completed restoration for all 200,000 Virginians.”
It is so rare for good news to come from VA that I never look for it.
That’s what the Constitution gives him the power to do. Indisputably.
It’s that easy but the process starts with a form originated by the individual. My nephew did it, no problem.
But Mack really should weigh his decisions based on merit rather than a whim or an agenda.
And tonight he said he will approve all 210k felons one by one to GET AROUND the court order....just heard it on the radio.
I'm not so sure we should be celebrating this. There are an astounding number of things these days that will make one a felon, and thus lose one's ability to vote, or exercise one's second amendment rights. An older person who has one of those 'pill a day' boxes to keep medications straight is committing a felony, because prescription drugs are supposed to be kept in their labeled container until used.
Frankly, I'm of the opinion that once someone has 'served their time', they should regain all the rights due to them as a human being. Among those is to have a voice in the choice of their government, and their rights to defend themselves via the 2nd amendment.
Felons in prison is a different story. While incarcerated, you lose any number of rights.
“to a class of unnamed felons” just sounds like a reason to whip out an auto-pen and make the largest Kinkos run in history for this governor. Was that really the best argument made in court?
Do they really check the voter roles with a list of felons? Lying and no ID hasn’t stopped they.
Thank goodness the VA Supreme Court blocked that nonsense.
If this were allowed to be, the precedent would undermine the rule of law. Imagine a group of BLM'ers butchering a bunch of people at a riot and then being let go in one fell swoop.
It happened before in Germany.
L
So because there is no penalty for doing so, degenerate scumbags like McCauliffe can just dictate Unconstitutional orders that go overturned and walk away Scot free.
He ought to be fined and imprisoned for deliberately violating his oath of office.
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