The bill comes amid a months-long dispute between the executive and the legislature over how the rights to vote and seek public office should be restored to whom.
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In response to the filing, Governor McAuliffe issued his own written statement accusing Republican law makers of trying to permanently remove violent felons’ opportunities for political redemption.
Republican leaders announced Wednesday that they will ask the Supreme Court of Virginia to force the governor to explain why he should not be held in contempt for his efforts to work around the court’s July 22 opinion that found McAuliffe lacked the constitutional authority to restore felons’ political rights en masse.
“The seriousness of Gov. McAuliffe’s flagrant and repeated violation of the Constitution requires us to take action”, House Speaker William Howell said in an August 31 statement.
McAuliffe has been closely allied with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for years.
“The process … fully complies with the Virginia Supreme Court’s order and the precedent of governors before me”, McAuliffe said in an August 22 statement.
The Virginia Supreme Court is yet to rule on the Republican leaders’ motion to hold McAuliffe in contempt. But McAuliffe recently began a new restoration process. His administration processed each felon’s paperwork individually to comply with the ruling, he said. Senator Norment proposes to make Virginia one of the most restrictive states in America in depriving its own citizens of any and all means to restore their civil rights.
In a statement, House of Delegates Speaker William J. Howell said the four justices who sided against McAuliffe are “widely respected” and elected with bipartisan support.
The high court invalidated the governor’s sweeping executive order that covered about 200,000 felons who completed their sentence.
In order for a constitutional amendment to be enacted, it must be approved by two successive sessions of the general assembly with an election in between, then further approved by a voter referendum.
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“Republicans remain hell-bent on their singular mission to preserve archaic barriers to the polls, particularly for minority voters”, she said.
