Lawsuit filed by Indian man could change future elections
Tron Nick
Supreme Court sets up showdown for Felon Voting Rights
The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal from officials in Washington State regarding an American Indian prisoner who claimed his rights were violated because minority felons cannot vote. The man was one of six inmates that challenged as discriminatory a state law disqualifying them of their right to cast a ballot. The six filed the suit in 1996, saying that a Washington law currently on the books violates the federal Voting Rights Act by denying them equal access to the polls. Minorities are particularly hurt because they are over-represented in the prison community, they said. Native Americans comprise about five percent of the prison population, with a little over three thousand currently serving time in federal institutions, even though they only make up one percent of the overall population. The case was eventually appealed to the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals who didn't side with the inmates, but agreed that their claims of bias deserve a full airing in court. "We recognize that this is a difficult issue and that it requires a searching inquiry into all factors that bear on plaintiffs' claim," Judge Richard A. Paez wrote for the majority on the panel. "We, however, express no opinion on the merits of plaintiffs' claim and leave that determination to the district court in the first instance." Washington officials appealed to the Supreme Court, but justices there refused to hear it. [more]