McAuliffe has always been a loyal Clinton puppy.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) is taking action to restore the voting rights of thousands of ex-offenders in the state after a court decision Friday put them in jeopardy. He’s getting around the Virginia Supreme Court’s ruling against him by signing 200,000 individual clemency grants to the state’s ex-offenders to ensure their right to vote in November.

In a 4 to 3 decision late Friday, the Supreme Court of Virginia stripped away the voting rights from 200,000 ex-offenders who had recently regained full civil rights through one of McAuliffe’s executive orders, effectively disenfranchising one in five of the state’s African American voters.

The power for an executive to grant clemency is supposed to be used thoughtfully to extend mercy or correct mistakes by the judicial system. The executive is supposed to consider the merits of each case. By issuing blanket pardons, McAuliffe is blatantly abusing his authority.

On another note, I wonder if McAuliffe’s actions also restore the right of tens of thousands of felons to buy guns. That may be the price of getting more Democrats to the polls to vote in Virginia.