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| Prison voting headed to U.S. Supreme Court? State leaders say yes |
| By seattlepi.com |
| Published: 01/11/2010 |
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Two state leaders say they'll ask that the U.S. Supreme Court review a federal court decision clearing the way for inmate voting in Washington. Following Tuesday's decision by a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel revoking the state prohibition on felon voting, Attorney General Rob McKenna and Secretary of State Sam Reed now say they'll ask the nation's highest court to review the decision. The decision, hailed as a landmark win for prisoner-rights advocates, effectively removed the state's restrictions on felon voting on civil-rights grounds. Under the Washington law at issue, citizens convicted of a felony lose the right to vote until they are released from custody and off of Department of Corrections supervision. The 2-1 ruling by a Circuit Court of Appeals panel put those restrictions in doubt, with the majority finding that the state restrictions unfairly penalize minorities. In an announcement Wednesday afternoon, McKenna and Reed said they believe the issue is ripe for review by the Supreme Court, and that their agencies -- defendants in the lawsuit alongside the governor's office -- will ask for such a hearing. Objecting to the appeals court decision, both noted circuit courts elsewhere in the nation have come to the opposite conclusion while reviewing similar cases. "This case began back in 1996, it's been to the 9th Circuit twice already and now it's time for the U.S. Supreme Court to step in to resolve the split between the federal courts of appeals that the 9th Circuit has created," McKenna said in a statement. "The felon disenfranchisement laws of Washington and 47 other states hang in the balance." McKenna added that, should the Supreme Court accept the case, he intends to argue it himself. Read More. |
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