Politics and Government in America

The Supreme Court is right now considering whether to hear a challenge to a law in Massachusetts that prevents felons from voting. Now I know there are all kinds of arguments for allowing felons to vote once they are released from prison. However, the Massachusetts law is unique in this regard as the law does not forbid felons from voting when they are released but only when they are in prison.

The argument being made by the inmates involved in the suit is that because most of the people in prison are minorities, the law passed in 2000 is a violation of the Voting Rights Act. These inmates want the right to perform their social duty by voting, after displaying that they have no regard for societies laws. This makes about as much sense as the lawsuit back in the 80′s claiming that the New York prison system not offering cable television was cruel and unusual punishment.

Now, I do not believe that all felons should lose their voting rights AFTER they have served their sentence. However, prison is supposed to be a punishment. Inmates in many states are highly restricted in what they can do. In Wisconsin inmates  are not even allowed to play games like Dungeons and Dragons.

Inmates still serving their sentences should and do have their rights restricted as a matter of necessity. It is the only way that society and other inmates can be kept safe. The Supreme Court has already upheld that convicted felons may even have their rights restricted to a certain extent even after their term of incarceration is up. Even some Constitutionally established rights, like free association and the right to bear arms are able to be restricted when dealing with convicted felons. Again this is because of the need to protect the public at large.

That a case like this would even make it to the Supreme Court says more about our current justice system then it does about the merits of the case. This is just one more example of the need for torte reform in the United States.