The Washington Post reports that the United States Supreme Court today declined to review Florida's voting ban for convicted felons. Opponents had claimed the ban discriminated against blacks, when it fact it discriminates - judiciously, one might argue - against convicted felons.

Florida attorneys argued that states have authority to set their own policies. Congress, in enacting the (Voting Rights Act of 1965), did not have the power to "intrude so deeply into the sovereign right over every state to set qualifications for voting and to establish punishments for felons," Washington attorney Charles Cooper, representing Florida, said in the state's filing....Florida also has a process for felons to seek their voting rights, but there is no guarantee of success. The Supreme Court appeal was filed on behalf of more than 600,000 Florida felons. The court has refused to deal with this issue before.

It is certainly possible for reasonable people to disagree on whether felons should have their voting rights revoked or not, and what level of redress should exist. It is proving less possible to assert that states should not be able to make their own law on these questions.

TECHNORATI TAGS: SUPREME COURT, FELON VOTING BAN, FLORIDA

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Posted by Matt Rosenberg at November 14, 2005 02:34 PM