Election Law @ Moritz

Election Law Litigation

Farrakhan v. Locke

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(page last updated August 20, 2008 at 2:54 PM)

Case Information

Current Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Case 06-35669)
All Courts: U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Washington (Case 2:96-cv-00076-RHW); U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Case 06-35669)
Topic(s): Felon Voting Rights
State: Washington
Date Filed: October 26, 1999

Issue: Whether a felon disenfranchisement statute violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, when the primary source of discrimination complained of is caused by external sources.

Status: Appellant's opening brief filed; Appellees' brief filed 2/2/07; Appellants' reply brief filed 3/16/07. Argued and submitted for decision on 4/8/08.

Summary

In this case convicted felons claim that Article VI, Section 3 of the Washington State Constitution, which denies felons the right to vote, violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act because it has a disparate impact on minorities.

The District Court granted summary judgment for the Washington because the racial discrimination was attributable to outside sources, in particular the criminal justice system. As the cause of the disparate impact is external to the felon disenfranchisement statute, the plaintiffs could not prove a causal connection. The Court of Appeals, however, reversed and remanded the case. Using a "totality of the circumstances" test, the Court held that the law's interaction with external factors should have been considered. As the criminal justice system is an external factor directly affecting the disenfranchisement statute, it should have been considered by the District Court.

Court of Appeals Documents

District Court Documents

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