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McAuliffe had issued a sweeping executive order in April that affected 206,000 ex-offenders in the state.
In a 4-3 ruling, the state's justices said under the state constitution, McAuliffe didn't have the authority for such a proclamation.
[...] Nothing stops the governor from granting rights to felons on an individual basis, but the justices said it was unconstitutional to do it through a blanket order.
[...] Under McAuliffe's order, the restoration of rights only extended to felons who have finished serving their terms — anyone in prison, or on supervised probation or parole, was still barred from voting. The order also granted felons the right to serve on juries and become a notary.
[...] He also noted that most states allow felons who have completed their terms to vote — Iowa, Kentucky and Florida are the only other exceptions.
[...] "Republicans suspect the real motive for McAuliffe's order is political," [NPR's] Pam [Fessler] reported [earlier this month]. "The governor is a close ally of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who could benefit from more African-American voters if the race in Virginia is tight. McAuliffe denied that was his reason for issuing the order."
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday July 25 2016, @05:35AM
"ramp up the policing to extreme levels, try to drag as many people as possible into court and slap them with trumped up felony convictions."
But - we are already there. I don't remember the first time I heard that the US incarcerates more people than any other nation in the world. At first, I denied that - there must be some dicatatorships that imprison more than we do. What about that evil sumbitch, Saddam Hussein? But, no, the fact is, in today's modern world, we do imprison more poeple than any other nation. Oh wow - we slipped to number two last year, Seychelles has 868 prisoners per 100k population, compared to our 698.
http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/largest-prison-population-rates-in-the-world.html [worldatlas.com]
1 Seychelles 868
2 United States of America 698
3 St. Kitts and Nevis 611
4 Virgin Islands (USA) 542
5 Turkmenistan 522
6 Cuba 510
7 Rwanda 492
8 El Salvador 465
9 Russian Federation 463
10 Thailand 452
11 Belize 449
12 Grenada 430
13 Virgin Islands (United Kingdom) 425
14 Guam (USA) 422
15 Bermuda (United Kingdom) 411
16 Anguilla (United Kingdom) 407
17 Sint Maarten (Netherlands) 396
18 Panama 392
19 Antigua and Barbuda 389
20 Bahamas 379
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Monday July 25 2016, @06:22AM
2nd highest incarceration rate? All the more reason not to deny felons the right to vote. You know a lot of people are in there who shouldn't be, victims of the War on Drugs among other misguided law making and enforcement.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Monday July 25 2016, @02:02PM
the US incarcerates more people than any other nation in the world. At first, I denied that - there must be some dicatatorships that imprison more than we do. What about that evil sumbitch, Saddam Hussein? But, no
That doesn't include summary executions, does it?
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday July 25 2016, @02:14PM
I wouldn't think so. Of course, it's hard to tell which killings are summary execution, and which are self defense. Right here, in the US, we've had 986 killed by police in 2015, and 532 in 2016 - apparently as of June 30.
I would HOPE that most of those killings were in self defense, but in view of current events, you've got to wonder.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/07/05/3794553/police-killings-2016/ [thinkprogress.org]
An article from the Guardian says that Russia only killed 200 people in 2015.
I didn't find articles on China, but the wikipedia suggests that China isn't into killing citizens at all.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_killings_by_law_enforcement_officers_in_China [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 25 2016, @10:17PM
Seychelles? I've been to the Seychelles several times and I'd swear there wasn't 868 people on the whole island!