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Judge Sotomayor's dissent on Hayden v. Pataki

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

* ProgressiveSouth's diary-- Voting experts point to two areas where Judge Sotomayor's rulings have stood out: FELON DISENFRANCHISEMENT: Judge Sotomayor's biggest voting rights case has likely been Hayden v Pataki. In this 2006 case in the 2nd Circuit, ex-felon Joseph "Jazz" Hayden brought a challenge under the Voting Rights Act against New York's law banning ex-felons from voting. Civil rights advocates had mobilized around the case, saying felon disenfranchisement laws showed a clear history of racial discrimination. The majority dismissed the case, but Judge Sotomayour dissented, saying the issue of discrimination was actually quite simple, as SCOTUSBLOG reports: [Sotomayor] opined that the issue was actually much simpler than the majority and concurring opinions would suggest: the VRA "applies to all 'voting qualifications,'" and - in her view - the state law "disqualifies a group of people from voting...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on May 29, 2009 (boomark / email).