King v. Youngkin

The ACLU of Virginia, Protect Democracy, and WilmerHale on the behalf of individual plaintiffs Melvin Wingate, Tati Abu King, and Toni Heath Johnson, as well as Bridging the Gap In Virginia, filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit in federal court challenging the Virginia Constitution’s felony disenfranchisement provision. The case, filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, claims that Virginia is in violation of the 150-year-old federal law that established the terms of Virginia’s readmission to representation in the United States Congress after the Civil War.

Today, Virginia is one of only three states whose constitutions automatically disenfranchise all people with felony convictions unless the governor restores their right to vote. And of the three, Virginia is the only one that further requires everyone with a felony conviction to individually petition the governor to restore that right.

Following the Civil War, former Confederate states intent on keeping newly freed Black voters away from the ballot box targeted them with a growing number of criminal convictions, and then stripped people with criminal convictions of their right to vote.

To prevent such targeted disenfranchisement, the Virginia Readmission Act explicitly prohibits Virginia’s Constitution from being “amended or changed to deprive any citizen or class of citizens of the right to vote, except as a punishment for such crimes as are now felonies at common law.” In 1870 these crimes were: murder, manslaughter, arson, burglary, robbery, rape, sodomy, mayhem, and larceny.

But just a few years later, Virginia amended its Constitution, in violation of the Virginia Readmission Act, to disenfranchise people convicted of a far broader set of crimes.

Today, the Virginia Constitution disenfranchises all people convicted of any felony – including those that were not “felonies at common law” in 1870. As examples, drug offenses or publishing a document someone else forged — both felonies for which plaintiffs named in this suit lost their right to vote — were not felonies at common law in 1870. The lawsuit argues that Virginia cannot disenfranchise people convicted of those or other categories of crime without violating the Virginia Readmission Act.

This lawsuit seeks to redress this wrong and restore the voting rights Congress guaranteed to Virginia’s citizens in 1870.

Read more details about the case here.

UPDATE (12/05/2024): The 4th Circuit issued an unanimous opinion holding that the district court: (1) correctly refused to dismiss the one remaining count of the complaint based on sovereign immunity; but (2) should have dismissed the Governor of Virginia and the Secretary of the Commonwealth. The case will proceed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

UPDATE (08/13/2024): The Defendants appealed the issue of sovereign immunity to the 4th Circuit. The issue is briefed and set for a hearing on September 24, 2024. The case in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia is stayed pending appeal.

UPDATE (03/18/2024): The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that a lawsuit challenging Virginia's felony disenfranchisement law has merit and can proceed. The ACLU of Virginia, WilmerHale, and Protect Democracy filed the suit last year on behalf of individual Virginians, who are currently disqualified from voting under Virginia law despite having served their time in prison, as well as Bridging the Gap in Virginia, a Virginia-based organization that provides reentry support for the formerly incarcerated.

Related News Coverage:

Fourth Circuit OKs challenge to Virginia’s felony voting law | Courthouse News Service

Lawsuit against Youngkin administration over voting rights to proceed | Richmond Times-Dispatch

Case against VA law barring felons from voting will go forward | WVTF

Federal judge says lawsuit challenging Virginia’s felony disenfranchisement can move forward | WRIC

Judge rules lawsuit challenging Virginia provision stripping felons of voting rights can move forward | WRIC

Judge rules suit against Virginia felon disenfranchisement rule can proceed | Virginia Mercury

Lawsuit takes aim at Va. law stripping felons of voting rights| Washington Post

Lawsuit challenges Virginia law that strips felons of voting rights| The Hill

ACLU, other groups sue Youngkin over rights restoration process| Richmond Times-Dispatch

Lawsuit claims Virginia’s felony disenfranchisement violates Reconstruction-era federal law| AP

Can a suit tied to an 1870 law finally end Va.’s feudal felon rights restoration regimen?| Virginia Mercury

He's suing Virginia's governor to get his voting rights back: 'I paid my dues'| WTVR