Earlier this month, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) overturned a 150-year old law and gave convicted criminals in the state the right to vote. The liberal leader argued he had signed the executive order as a means of defending minorities’ civil rights, but Republicans knew better. McAuliffe, who has been friends with the Clintons for years, knows Hillary Clinton is likely to pick up the majority of those votes in the general election. The Virginia GOP is not about to let McAuliffe get away with his politically motivations and are suing him, with the help of a former Reagan aide.
Leading the charge for the lawsuit will be Charlie Cooper, President Ronald Reagan’s former assistant attorney general who was once dubbed the “Republican lawyer of the year.” Virginia GOP officials explained their decision to hire Cooper and why their effort is so critical.
“We have retained Mr. Cooper to examine the legal options to remedy this Washington-style overreach by the executive branch,” said Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City. “Mr. Cooper is an extremely qualified attorney, and we have every confidence he will proceed prudently, judiciously and expeditiously.”
Brian Coy, a spokesman for McAuliffe, said the governor is “disappointed that Republicans would go to such lengths to continue locking people who have served their time out of their democracy.”
After McAuliffe announced he was restoring felons’ right to vote, critics asked: Okay, what about their Second Amendment rights?