A federal appeals court in Richmond said Virginia's governor has unfettered discretion when deciding who's rights they may restore.
In Virginia, felons automatically lose their right to vote until a governor restores them.
A formerly incarcerated Virginian, George Hawkins, sued, saying Governor Glenn Youngkin abused that discretion when he denied Hawkins’ request for restoration.
Under Hawkin's theory, the "unfettered discretion" doctrine of the First Amendment should have forbidden Virginia's governor from "exercising unfettered discretion over whether to grant licenses that implicate an individual’s First Amendment rights."
But a lower court agreed with Youngkin last summer, finding his authority to restore rights on a case-by-case basis was protected by the state's constitution.
And a federal appeals panel in Richmond agreed Wednesday, described the Virginia governor's rights restoration power as "entirely discretionary."
"Given the historically limited role of the judiciary in restraining the use of the executive clemency power, and the longstanding role of discretion in that power, we will not import the unfettered-discretion doctrine from the licensing world into this wholly different context," wrote Judge James Wynn, a Barack Obama-appointee, noting Hawkin's 1A argument has not previously been used in this context. "In short, we hold that Virginia’s entirely discretionary system for voting-rights restoration, rooted in the executive clemency power, does not facially violate the First Amendment unfettered-discretion doctrine."
Another lawsuit aiming to find Virginia's disenfranchisement of felons is currently working its way through the federal court system.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
