http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/22/po...ons/index.html
Virginia Supreme Court strikes down McAuliffe order on felons' voting rights
Writing for a 4-3 court, Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons held that the "assertion that a Virginia governor has the power to grant blanket, group pardons" is "irreconcilable" with the Constitution of Virginia.
The ruling is a political setback to Democrats and was issued in the critical state about an hour before Hillary Clinton announced she would choose former Virginia governor and current Sen. Tim Kaine as her running mate. The court's opinion actually mentions Kaine, noting that when he was governor he contemplated a similar executive order but in the end was advised that he couldn't issue such a sweeping action.
"Never before," Lemons wrote, "have any of the prior 71 Virginia governors" issued such a clemency order of any kind, "whether to restore civil rights or grant a pardon, to an entire class of unnamed felons without regard for the nature of the crimes or any other individual circumstances relevant to the request."
A message left with McAuliffe's office Friday night was not immediately returned.
The challenge was brought by citizens and Republican state officials who argued in court papers that Virginia's Constitution forbid "this unprecedented assertion of executive authority."
McAuliffe's action attracted immediate criticism when he issued the order in April. Writing in the National Review,
Kevin D. Williamson called McAuliffe a "Clinton henchman."