Posted on 01/07/2010 6:31:14 AM PST by aquapub
The ultra-liberal 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals made one of its trademark assaults on the Constitution Tuesday, illegally overturning a Washington State law barring convicted felons from voting. I use the word "illegally" because judicial review (the invented power of federal courts to overturn democratically-enacted laws) is listed nowhere in the Constitution as an enumerated power.
Furthermore, as the proposal of the 1875 Blaine Amendment demonstrates, the federal government was never intended to have the power to overturn state legislation...
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
Now you know 2.
Have a nice day.
I agree that I feel PRIVILEGED to have been born in America, but removing basic rights because of crimes is a very slippery slope.
It doesn’t take much to commite a crime, these days. Look at the penal codes for municipalities, cities and states, let alone the federal goobermint. Any Rand was right - control the people by making ALL of them criminals in some way.
And, felonies come in varying degrees.
Losing something so basic as the right to vote (or travel, etc., etc.,) because of a non-violent felony is a permanent stain that does nothing to resolve the situation. You marginalize people who could return to productive society.
If anything, our rights are our most valuable posessions.
Removing them so cavalierly is a costly and lasting mistake.
It should only be done in the most extreme of circumstances.
If someone is such a threat that their basic rights should be abridged, what the hell are they doing out of jail?
I don’t think prison inmates should be able to vote (they are here in Canada), but I don’t see why one should continue to be disenfranchised once they have served their term including any probation.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals made one of its trademark assaults on the Constitution Tuesday, illegally overturning a Washington State law barring convicted felons from voting. I use the word "illegally" because judicial review is listed nowhere in the Constitution as an enumerated power.
As Alexander Hamilton once lamented regarding the drafting of the Constitution (paraphrasing):'We didn't spend enough time on the Judicial Branch.'
I believe this was right after Marbury v. Madison in 1803. That was the first time SCOTUS ruled something unconstitutional and 'Judicial Review' was established.
102 votes now — 99.02% “no”. 1 vote “yes”.
A more interesting poll would be “Which party do you think felons will vote for?”.
Yup! What kind of laws will we have/retain if the people who break the laws are permitted to vote on them? This is a no brainer!
This felon votes republican.
Felon! They lose that right for as along as they are paying their debt (jail) to society. One out of jail, they can vote. That has been our approach traditionally! I see NO problem with it.
well, seeing how the unindicted and unconvicted felons are allowed to vote: Clintons, Frank, Schumer, Dodd, Reid, Obama, Rangel, Geitner, Pelosi..............
The most wrong court in America. I expect this decision to be flipped.
Felons have proven they can't be law abiding members of society. I understand the part about paying their debt and all that, but once they are paroled they should prove to society that they are reformed and on the right track for 3-5 years before they get their voting card back.
News flash:we have felons writing laws.
Felons are a large voting bloc of the Rat party.
Some things that are felonies shouldn't be so. If the time was served all rights should be restored.
I agreee, but the traditional approach is to be paroled without the right to vote in most states. The parolee has to petition the state (in an often lengthy and expensive process) for the reinstatement of voting rights.
Exactly, what happens when mere dissent becomes a felony?
I think it should be clearly delineated by what kind of felonies.
Public ‘officials’ have themselves, as a group, done as much as convicted offenders to degrade public respect for laws and to glamorize lawbreaking and lawbreakers. This has become a feral society in every sense of the word...and I read elsewhere on this site that Chicago will dummy down admission to the police force..... nice!
In what state?
The last example I saw was Florida.
It was either voting or guns, but a convicted felon had to petition the state government to get one of these rights back. Took a while, IIRC.
I’ll try to find the case.
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