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LETTER TO EDITOR: Sonia Sotomayor v. Jim Crow concerning Hayden v. Pataki

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

LETTER TO EDITOR: Sonia Sotomayor v. Jim Crow By | Tuesday, June 2, 2009 Washington Times Your editorial, "The franchise for felons" (Opinion, Friday), fails to grasp the powerful point Judge Sonia Sotomayor made in her dissent in Hayden v. Pataki, which is this: A simple reading of the Voting Rights Act makes clear that states may not impose voting qualifications that deny the right to vote on account of race. New York's felony disenfranchisement law, like similar laws throughout the country, does just that. Nationwide, 13 percent of black men are disenfranchised because of a criminal conviction. More than 80 percent of those currently denied the right to vote under New York's law are black and Latino. No one can deny the long history in our country of states finding creative ways to deny blacks the right to vote...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on June 12, 2009 (boomark / email).