Republicans file contempt motion against McAuliffe over felon rights restoration
With the presidential election a little more than two months away, General Assembly Republicans are renewing their fight to stop Gov. Terry McAuliffe from restoring voting rights for more than 200,000 felons.
GOP leaders announced Wednesday that they want the Supreme Court of Virginia to consider holding McAuliffe in contempt for his efforts to restore felons’ political rights en masse despite the court’s July 22 opinion that struck down the governor’s first attempt.
The governor’s new process, Republicans argue, has the same effect of subverting Virginia’s longtime policy of barring felons from voting.
In the new court filing, the GOP leaders argue that McAuliffe is defying the court order by printing and mailing individual rights-restoration orders on a large scale without requiring ex-offenders to submit applications. The filing asks the Supreme Court to enforce its ruling by blocking felons’ registrations under the governor’s modified process.
Read more: http://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/government-politics/article_a8361535-bb81-5a3b-9ad0-9323f1c4f76c.html
