Last year the Supreme Court of Virginia unanimously ruled against Virginia Senate Leader Tommy Norment and his fellow Republicans in their effort to hold Governor McAuliffe in contempt for using his executive authority to restore voting rights to Virginians on individual basis.

But in a last ditch attempt to continue Virginia’s antiquated voter disenfranchisement laws and to undermine the Governor, Norment introduced and championed SJ 223, a sweeping constitutional amendment that would give the General Assembly power to restrict future Governors from restoring voting rights.

The amendment passed along party lines in the Senate, but was killed this morning in a House of Delegates subcommittee. Now the question is did House Republicans kill the bill because they were horrified by Norment’s eagerness to alter our constitution after he spent several months last year screaming about its sanctity? Or did they finally realize that Norment’s vindictive power grab would reflect poorly on them?