Well, I suppose they could have done both, but figured that doing both would have muddied the waters and looked too "political". So they chose the option least likely to succeed, especially in as short a period as six months given how slowly the courts operate, and, of course, earned them Donk denunciations of the lawsuit being "political" anyway:
Republican lawmakers in Virginia will file a lawsuit challenging Democrat Governor Terry McAuliffe's decision to allow more than 200,000 convicted felons to vote in November, GOP leaders said Monday.
Republicans argue the governor has overstepped his constitutional authority with a clear political ploy designed to help the campaign of his friend and Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in the important swing State this fall.
"Governor McAuliffe's flagrant disregard for the Constitution of Virginia and the rule of law must not go unchecked," Senate Republican Leader Thomas Norment said in a statement. He added that McAuliffe's predecessors and previous attorneys general examined this issue and concluded Virginia's governor can't issue blanket restorations.
Except, of course, that he just....did. "Severing power from legal authority," remember? The central plank of the Obama legacy? It appears to have thoroughly germinated throughout the fruitless plain.
You'll never guess who Old Dominion 'Pubbies have hired as their legal eagle:
Republicans have hired Charles J. Cooper, a Washington, D.C., attorney known for [unsuccessfully] defending California's ban on [sodo]marriage before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013.
So they hired a loser.
And it gets worse, or better, depending upon your point of view:
GOP leaders did not say when they will file the lawsuit. They said it would not be paid for using taxpayer dollars. [emphasis added]
I'd say they'd better be filing this suit ten days ago, given how little time McAuliffe has left them for futile litigation. Most time's already a-wasted.
But at least there's no question of McAuliffe's action being illegal, unlawful, and unconstitutional, says....his most recent Democrat predecessor:
A lawyer for former Democrat Governor Tim Kaine said in 2010 that the restoration of rights must be done on a case-by-case basis. A blanket order restoring voting rights would be a "rewrite of the law," Mark Rubin, a counselor to Kaine, said in a letter at the time. [emphasis added]
But what does the law matter in a "populist" age where you've got the biggest mob, which McAuliffe's decree makes 206,000 felons bigger?:
"The governor is disappointed that Republicans would go to such lengths to continue locking people who have served their time out of their democracy," Brian Coy said in a statement. "These Virginians are qualified to vote and they deserve a voice, not more partisan schemes to disenfranchise them."
Might as well have impeached him at the same time, huh?
And the punchline? Padding the Democrat voter roles really won't be necessary....
Polling Data
| Poll | Date | Sample | MoE | Clinton (D) | Trump (R) | Spread |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RCP Average | 1/18 - 4/3 | -- | -- | 48.0 | 35.0 | Clinton +13.0 |
| Christopher Newport Univ. | 3/23 - 4/3 | 1167 RV | 3.1 | 44 | 35 | Clinton +9 |
| Roanoke College | 1/18 - 1/26 | 524 LV | 4.3 | 52 | 35 | Clinton +17 |
....but at least the Virginia GOP is wasting its own money, not the taxpayers'.
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