Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court asked the Obama Administration to offer its views on felon disenfranchisement laws and whether or not they violate the Voting Rights Act, according to the National Law Journal.
The high court turned to the U.S. Solicitor General’s office to file a brief on the issue before it considers taking on Massachusetts case, Simmons v. Galvin, “in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit upheld Massachusetts Article 120, an amendment to the state constitution in 2000 that barred felons from voting while in prison.”
Voting rights advocates oppose the patchwork of felon disenfranchisement laws across the nation, which range from no disenfranchisement to restoration only after governor approval. These laws have shown to have a disproportionate impact on low income and minority communities, where disenfranchised felons often return after serving their sentence.
“‘The struggle to free the vote is the next stage of the voting rights movement,’ said Ryan Haygood, lawyer with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Thirty-eight percent of the 5.3 million felons or ex-felons who have been barred from voting are African-American, leading to the claim that because of their disparate impact on blacks, the laws violate the Voting Rights Act. ‘They are eroding and contracting democracy,’ Haygood said.”