Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is being sued by state Republican lawmakers over his decision to allow former felons vote.
Virginia’s GOP leaders announced Monday they have hired a former Justice Department official in the Reagan administration to lead the legal challenge against McAuliffe, who in an order issued just 10 days ago to restore voting rights to roughly 206,000 Virginians.
“Governor McAuliffe’s flagrant disregard for the Constitution of Virginia and the rule of law must not go unchecked,” Senate Majority Leader Thomas Norment Jr. said in a statement. “We have retained Mr. Cooper to examine the legal options to remedy this Washington-style overreach by the executive branch.”
The GOP lawmakers say McAuliffe’s order oversteps his constitutional powers as governor. They also believe his order was political.
“His predecessors and previous attorneys general examined this issue and consistently concluded Virginia’s governor does not have the power to issue blanket restorations,” Norment said. “By doing so now with the acknowledged goal of affecting the November election, he has overstepped the bounds of his authority and the constitutional limits on executive powers.”
McAuliffe is a Democrat, and Virginia is often a swing state in general elections. The state is also engaged in another fight over its voting laws, as Democrats are challenging the state’s 2013 voter ID law.
“The governor is disappointed that Republicans would go to such lengths to continue locking people who have served their time out of their democracy,” McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy said in a statement. “These Virginians are qualified to vote and they deserve a voice, not more partisan schemes to disenfranchise them.”
Even if all of the 206,000 eligible ex-felons signed up to vote, they would represent less than 1 percent of Virginia’s total registered voters, according to the Associated Press.
