Reply to VA SCOTUS oral arguments

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
The processes are enumerated in the VA Constitution. The ambiguity is how to measure the time periods or when does an election start.

The Virginia Constitution outlines the amendment process, requiring approval by two successive legislatures and voter ratification,[b] but the exact timing and interpretation of the period between legislative approvals can be ambiguous.[/b] The process involves passing the amendment in one legislative session, holding it over for the next elected legislature to approve again, and then putting it to a vote of the people.[/quote]

Exactly. You can read the constitutional text for yourself right here:
https://law.lis.virginia.gov/constitution/article12/section1/

This is the text in question:

[quote][i]
Any amendment or amendments to this Constitution may be proposed in the Senate or House of Delegates, and if the same shall be agreed to by a majority of the members elected to each of the two houses, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be entered on their journals, the name of each member and how he voted to be recorded, [b]and referred to the General Assembly at its first regular session held [u]after the next general election of members of the House of Delegates[/u].[/b][/i][u]
[/quote]

I've bolded and underlined the debated text. The question at stake is whether "after the next general election" phrase means the date of the general election itself (Tuesday, November 4, 2025) or the date when early voting started in Virginia (September 19, 2024). This matters because the Virginia legislature did not provide first approval until October 31, 2025.

Republicans are arguing that the vote should be thrown out because the phrase "after the next general election" indicates a deadline of September 19. Note: this may be the only time in recorded history that Republicans have supported early voting!

However, when this text of the VA Constitution was drafted in the 1970s, they did not have early voting. So it is clear that it was pegged to the actual Election Day itself. Early voting to Virginia did not come to Virginia until the year 2020.

I don't think anyone can credibly call themselves an "Originalist" and pretend like the Constitutional drafters in the 1970s anticipated early voting days and that being the hard cut-off for the referendum. Elephants and mouseholes. 
[/quote]

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