The ‘‘Right” to Vote of Felons and Noncitizens According to Activist Judges
Hans von Spakovsky /
As we head into Election Day tomorrow, we should note that there were two decisions last week in federal courts of appeal that directly impact on the right to a secure and fair election, one good and one bad.
In Johnson v. Tennessee, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the right of the State of Tennessee to condition restoration of the voting rights of convicted felons on payment of restitution and child support obligations. The decision was two to one and it will probably come as no surprise that the dissenting judge who believed that these felons had an imaginary constitutional right to ignore court orders and restitution requirements was a Clinton appointee.
Three felons had filed suit claiming that Tennessee was violating their constitutional right to vote. But the Fourteenth Amendment specifically grants states the ability to abridge the right to vote for “participation in rebellion, or other crime.” Like 48 other states (with the exception of Vermont and Maine), Tennessee bars felons from voting until their voting rights have been restored. Felons can start voting again in Tennessee as soon as they complete their sentences pursuant to a proper showing that they have paid all of the victim restitution ordered by a court, as well as child support. As the two federal judges opined in upholding this requirement, Tennessee possesses valid interests in promoting payment of child support, requiring criminals to fulfill their sentences, and encouraging compliance with court orders. This lawsuit was just another of a long series of suits filed against felon disenfranchisement laws that have, so far unsuccessfully, sought to override states’ constitutional authority in this area through what amount to largely frivolous constitutional and statutory claims. The dissenting judge in this case even likened requiring payment by felons of restitution and child support to a poll tax in violation of the Twenty Fourth Amendment! (more…)