Lawsuit challenges Virginia law that strips felons of voting rights

A coalition of advocacy groups filed a federal lawsuit Monday over a Virginia law that automatically stripped convicted felons of their voting rights shortly after the Civil War.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Virginia, voting rights advocacy group Protect Democracy and law firm WilmerHale filed the lawsuit Monday against Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) as well as other state officials. The lawsuit alleges that the state violated a 150-year-old law that established the rules of Virginia’s readmission into the Union after the Civil War ended.