GOP leaders had asked the court to make McAuliffe prove the legality of his voting rights executive order and the ensuing restoration of thousands of former felons’ ability to vote.
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Virginia’s top court denied state Republican leaders’ effort to hold Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe in contempt for restoring voting rights to people with felony records. In July, it ruled that governors can not restore rights en masse and invalidated an executive order that covered roughly 200,000 felons.
Republicans have also charged that McAuliffe, a close ally of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, is trying to stack the voter rolls for Democrats.
“This contempt motion was completely baseless and I’m glad the Supreme Court dispatched it so quickly”, said Herring.
These orders were challenged in court, and the Virginia Supreme Court ruled in Howell v. McAuliffe that the governor’s order violated the state constitution. “Governor McAuliffe is doing the right thing in giving these Virginians back their voice and their vote and I hope the legislature will join the effort”. The court said governors can not restore voting rights en masse and must consider them on a case-by-case basis.
Republican House Speaker Bill Howell (R-Stafford), who led the fight against the governor, said in a statement he was disappointed but respected the court’s decision.
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Adding to the controversy was the administration’s botched implementation of the order; the governor’s office mistakenly restored rights to 132 sex offenders still in custody, as well as to several convicted killers on probation in other states. In July, the Supreme Court of Virginia threw out his blanket clemency order. He had done so for the approximately 13,000 felons who registered to vote between his April order and the Supreme Court striking down the order in July. He stressed that his administration was processing felons’ rights restoration orders individually to comply with the decision, but Republicans argued there is no practical difference between his new process and his previous action struck down by the court. Instead of simply announcing that any felon whose sentence is complete is eligible to vote, the administration is mailing each person a notice to that effect.
