[ExI] Do Ex-felons get back their constitutional rights after paying their debt to society?

Gary Miller aiguy at comcast.net
Sun Jul 20 19:56:49 UTC 2008


On Sun 7/20/2008 12:17 PM Rik Van Riel wrote: 

"Gary Miller" <aiguy at comcast.net> wrote:

> I'm not trying to stir up the gun hornet's nest again but this raises 
> a broader question of whether ex-felons after paying their debt to 
> society are guaranteed the same constitutional rights as everyone else. >>

>> For guns there is at least the argument that the person has been known to
use a gun for something else than self defense.

My Response: "Not necessarily the felony may have been a nonviolent crime
like identity theft, embezzling, or check fraud.
The law makes no distinction as long as it's a felony."

>> I have no idea how it can be justified that felons should not be allowed
to vote.  
>> It's not like they can harm anyone by casting a ballot...

No, but if all the people who were jailed for drug offenses could vote for
drug legalization, it is a pretty good bet it would pass.

And pehaps the real reason...

"But last year Alabama Republican Party Chairman Marty Connors stated a bald
truth: "As frank as I can be," he said, "we're opposed to [restoring voting
rights] because felons don't tend to vote Republican." He is right: People
with low incomes, low education or minority status -- all benchmarks of
convict populations -- vote Democratic 65 to 90 percent of the time." 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9785-2004Aug17.html

This is one lawsuit I'd like to see the ACLU take to the Supreme Court.  




More information about the extropy-chat mailing list