This is indeed incredible. The other battles - gays, global warming, immigration etc involved old established liberal democrat positions. Civil rights for felons is a new area for the most part. Obama is ahead of his time. If it went to the Supremes now it would fail but probably would be close ... 5-4. That’s how close we probably are for the SC to rule affirmative action for felons. In a few years after a few more SC appointments I believe Obama’s position would prevail. Once you break traditional right/wrong and moral positions anything goes really.
They will argue that a released criminal has paid his dues and once released must be equally considered to those never imprisioned. Within 10 years this happens if not sooner.
Not so new. They’ve been wanting to give felons the vote for decades. I saw an old liberal study that complained that if only felons could vote in every state that democrats would have kept the Senate in 1980.