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Felon Disenfrachisement Laws: Partisan Politics In The Legislatures, Jason Belmont Conn
Felon Disenfrachisement Laws: Partisan Politics In The Legislatures, Jason Belmont Conn
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
This examination of the institutional changes to state legislatures, synthesized with an analysis of the handling of felon disenfranchisement laws by state legislatures, presents a troubling realization about the law today: in the twenty-first century, partisan politics moderates decisions about even the most basic and fundamental principles of democracy. This Note suggests that because state legislators follow their party leadership and position, a state's traditional treatment of racial minorities, geographic location, and even ideology are not the strongest indicators of a state's disenfranchisement laws. Rather, partisan politics drives changes to the state laws governing felon voter eligibility.
After Georgia V. Ashcroft: The Primacy Of Proportionality, Felix B. Chang
After Georgia V. Ashcroft: The Primacy Of Proportionality, Felix B. Chang
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
This Note argues that the majority in Ashcroft have left courts with an unadministerable standard-not so much for reasons that Justice Souter articulated in his dissent, but rather because the Court provided no guidance on navigating around the myriad of factors in the convoluted totality analyses. In the face of this uncertainty, lower courts will rely increasingly on the proportionality standard of Johnson v. De Grandy, which marked the midpoint in the judicial shift from Justice Brennan's worldview to Justice O'Connor's world-view. Part I examines two cases after Ashcroft which represent different degrees of racial vote dilution: Shirt v. …