Delegate Matt Fariss

I attended the 5^th Congressional District Republican Convention in Nelson County this weekend as a delegate. It was really good to see a lot of my friends and meet more of my constituents. I was pleased with the process and very much look forward to the Republican Party having a good couple of years in the upcoming elections.

Last month, Governor McAuliffe issued an executive order restoring civil rights to over 200,000 convicted felons, including violent felony offenders. This means that rapists, murders, child molesters, and sex offenders will now be able to vote, serve on a jury, or run for public office in your community. Beyond that -- Governor McAuliffe’s executive order violates the constitution.

In 2010, counsel to Governor Tim Kaine said a mass order restoring rights would not be a contemplated use of executive authority and would be a “rewrite of the law.” And in 2013, a bipartisan commission on the restoration of rights concluded that the Governor did not have the authority to institute an automatic, self-executing restoration of rights order. Despite these legal opinions, Governor McAuliffe is moving forward.

To combat this Washington-style executive overreach, House and Senate Republicans have retained attorney Charles J. Cooper to examine the legal options to remedy this situation. Mr. Cooper is a well-qualified attorney who worked under President Reagan and has argued cases before the Supreme Court. We are confident we will prevail in court.

You can add your name to our list of supporters here http://virginiahouse.gop/oppose-overreach/ and tell Governor McAuliffe that we will not allow this blatant disregard to the Constitution and rule of law to go unchecked.

If you have any concerns, questions, comments or issues that I or my Aide, Jenna, can help you with, please contact us at (434)821-5929 or email at [email protected]. You can also keep up with me on my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/DelegateMattFariss.