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The ACLU of Virginia sent Gov. Bob McDonnell a letter this week asking him to extend his new policy granting automatic restoration of voting rights to the largest number possible of those persons now disenfranchised by Virginia’s Jim Crow-era law permanently barring ex-felons from voting.
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A 5-4 ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court handed down today has struck down a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The court, split along ideological lines, ruled that Congress had used obsolete reasoning in requiring several Southern states to get federal approval for voting rules changes affecting blacks and other minorities.
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Private ownership of property is vital to our freedom and our prosperity and is one of the most fundamental principles embedded in our Constitution. The Founders realized the importance of property rights by enshrining these protections throughout the Constitution, including in the Fifth Amendment, which provides that “private property” shall not “be taken for public use without just compensation.”
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Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli today announced the creation of a bipartisan Attorney General’s Rights Restoration Advisory Committee tasked with examining what alternatives may be available within the existing framework of the Constitution of Virginia to restore the civil rights – primarily voting rights – of individuals convicted of certain nonviolent felonies who have completed their sentences and paid all fines and court-ordered restitution.
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The ACLU of Virginia on Monday sent a letter to Gov. Bob McDonnell urging him to issue an executive order restoring the voting rights of Virginians with felony convictions. The civil liberties group has recently praised the Governor for showing support for legislation that would automatically restore civil rights for nonviolent offenders, and becoming an advocate for rights restoration reform.
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Access to justice for victims of civil and human rights violations has been severely curbed over the last decade in Virginia and across the nation, according to a report released today by the American Civil Liberties Union. The report shows how indigent capital defendants, victims of torture, immigrants, and abused domestic workers, among others, are…
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Virginia has “outgrown” the need for federal oversight into political redistricting mandated under the Voting Rights Act, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli told reporters and editors at today’s AP Day at the Capitol in Richmond. “I don’t for a moment mean to contend that we don’t have to contend, in our society and in Virginia, with…
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A coalition of faith groups, civil and human rights organizations, and government officials have asked the Department of Homeland Security to reject Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s request to allow the Virginia Department of State Police to enter into a 287(g) agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A 287(g) agreement, named after a provision of federal…
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Column by Jaime Gonzalez Submit guest columns: [email protected] My parents are Americans. They are citizens of this great country, which they are proud to call home. They are also immigrants. My father immigrated to this country from Mexico in 1972 when he was 18 years old. At the time he wanted little more than…
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With the voter registration deadline approaching, the American Civil Liberties Union has sent an electronic flyer to approximately 400 college campus organizations at 33 Virginia colleges, encouraging students to take advantage of a new State Board of Elections’ policy permitting them to register to vote in the jurisdiction where they attend college. The flyer also…
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