On June 1, the 2nd circuit directed a lower US District Court in New York state to decide whether New York violates the 14th amendment by disenfranchising prisoners, and simultaneously counting prisoners as residents of prison communities, instead of counting them as residents of their home before they were imprisoned. Hayden v Pataki, 04-3886.

The great bulk of felons in New York state are imprisoned in rural communities in upstate New York, yet a majority of felons consider their home to be in New York city and other urban areas of New York state. For purposes of drawing congressional and legislative districts, this practice results in giving extra voting power to rural upstate areas, relative to large cities. The 2nd circuit wants the lower court to consider whether the state’s redistricting logic is faulty.