UPDATE (1/11/21 5:30 p.m.):
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has released a statement in response to accusations that he entered West Virginia into a lawsuit in order to disenfranchise voters in other states.
“I strongly condemned violence at the U.S. Capitol as it happened Jan. 6 and continue to do so.
It’s absolutely wrong for these radical, far-left delegates and their allies to make allegations out of thin air and try to politicize the death of a brave law enforcement official and other individuals.
Our December brief sought to fully investigate allegations that several states had not properly interpreted their own laws as they conducted their elections. It’s absolutely appropriate for a state attorney general to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to get the law right — holding free and fair elections should be one of the most important goals of our republic. That’s what that brief focused on.”
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey
ORIGINAL STORY (1/11/21 4:10 p.m.):
The West Virginia NAACP and its allies are calling for the removal and disbarment of West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey for what they call “his participation in the racist, unethical and un-American efforts to disenfranchise voters in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia.”
On Dec. 9, 2020, Morrisey entered West Virginia into a lawsuit that the NAACP said was “intended to undermine the US Constitution and to violate the 15th Amendment of the US Constitution that gave Black Americans citizenship and the right to vote.”
The NAACP alleges that Morrisey “has shown he will not fulfill his obligation to provide fair and equal justice for citizens of all races in West Virginia. Attorney General Patrick Morrisey must be removed from office and barred from practicing law.”
Further, the organization said “WV legislators who support equal justice will present a resolution calling for Attorney General Morrisey’s removal and disbarment in the upcoming legislative session.”
Elected officials and others have released statements on the accusation.
“The WV NAACP contends that WV State Attorney General Morrissey’s action by joining in the lawsuit in trying to overturn the presidential election was intended to disenfranchise the Black votes in the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia.”
Owens Brown, WV NAACP State President
“Instead of working to protect the rights of West Virginians and serve our citizens, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is using his office to support racist and un-American efforts to disenfranchise voters who didn’t vote for his party’s candidate. Morrissey does not represent West Virginian values, has violated his oath of office, and should be removed from office and disbarred. West Virginians deserve an Attorney General who works to solve the serious problems we face — injustices in housing, property rights, criminal and racial justice and other areas — not a grand-stander who wastes time and tax dollars fighting to disenfranchise voters in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia.”
Del. Danielle Walker, D–Monongalia Co.
“Attorney General Morrisey knew better than to involve WV in a frivolous attempt to undermine the electoral process and disenfranchise thousands of voters. He knew this case was going nowhere but chose to waste public funds and precious time to appeal to his base and perpetuate a lie — a lie that eventually led to violence in our nation’s Capitol. I stand with the NAACP in their rebuke of this ridiculous and dangerous political stunt.”
Del. Mike Pushkin, D–Kanawha Co.
“It offends me that our Attorney General, on my behalf and on behalf of other citizens of this state, would participate in a lawsuit with the goal of preventing the counting of legitimate votes of citizens from the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. Our country fought a Civil War, created this state, and passed the Fifteenth Amendment so that African American citizens would be guaranteed the right to vote. This lawsuit was a cynical attempt not to count the votes of citizens in those states, where large majorities of African Americans helped the winner, Joseph Biden, prevail over the candidate the Attorney General preferred. Attorney General Morrisey, who took an oath to uphold our constitution, must be held accountable for devaluing the most precious right of our country, the right to vote and have one’s vote counted.”
Del. Barbara Evans Fleischauer, D–Monongalia Co.
“West Virginia Working Families Party proudly stands with the WV NAACP’s call for the removal and disbarment of Attorney General Patrick Morrisey. Morrisey has betrayed his oath, our state, and our nation over and over again by using his office to sell us out for pennies on the dollar in corrupt settlements of opioid-related lawsuits, inviting chaos to our nation’s Capitol with robocalls promoting false beliefs about the presidential election, and by adding West Virginia to a racist, unethical, and un-American lawsuit aimed at disenfranchising minority voters. Enough is enough — Patrick Morrisey is unfit to hold the highest law enforcement office in West Virginia and must be removed.”
Ryan Frankenberry, West Virginia Working Families Party State Director
12 News is awaiting a response from Morrisey on the call for his removal.
