A Campbell County Circuit Court judge, on Tuesday, dismissed a suit brought by a member of the Bedford County Board of Supervisors challenging the reproductive rights amendment referendum that is set to go before voters in November, citing a technicality.
Gotta say, though, that technicality is about as close to an own goal as you can get.
The suit, filed by Charla Bansley, argues that the state didn’t follow legal requirements to have amendment language posted outside of courthouses statewide, which seems archaic, and indeed was repealed by the General Assembly earlier this year, with that repeal taking effect on July 1.
Bansley’s attorneys – she’s represented by Liberty Counsel, an evangelical outfit classified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group – is arguing that because the amendment was in the works in the state legislature while the old posting law was still in effect, the referendum should be invalidated.
This seems like an easy one to have been able to avoid.
A favorable ruling on those grounds would almost certainly impact referendums set to go on the ballot on marriage equality and voting rights.
Bansley, an adjunct professor at Liberty University, former communications director at Liberty Counsel and former state director at Concerned Women for America, another evangelical political outfit – she’s also a Realtor®, for those keeping score at home – signaled in a message on her Facebook page today that she will appeal.
“We lost the first round yesterday. But God still has a plan!” Bansley wrote.
That plan, per her message: “Next stop – Virginia Supreme Court.”
You remember this Supreme Court – the one that invalidated the votes of 3 million Virginians who voted in our April 21 referendum on redistricting.
MAGA activist judges just itching for another chance to rewrite Virginia law by judicial fiat.
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Chris Graham
