On October 18, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Simmons v Galvin, 09-920, the Massachusetts case on whether the Voting Rights Act can be used to overturn bans on felons and ex-felons voting. The decision was not surprising, because the United States Supreme Court had asked the Solicitor General of the United States to express an opinion in this case, and the Solicitor General had then submitted a brief arguing that the Voting Rights Act cannot generally be used for this purpose.
Gee —
14th Amdt, Sec. 2 black and white felons
15th Amdt, Sec. 1 black and white voters
TOTALLY separate classes.
Just because section 2 of the 14th amendment acknowledges that states might disenfranchise certain types of voters does not necessarily mean that section 1 of the 14th amendment doesn’t outlaw those state practice. Section 2 was just there to acknowledge that sometimes states do unlawful things and there is not much that can be done about it.
#2 See the 2 main speeches on the 14th Amdt in 1866 in the Congressional Globe.
Section one has ZERO to do with the definition of Elector in a sovereign State.
Much of the 2 speeches was about Sec. 2 — due to the party hack MORONS failing in 1864-1865 to detect the apportionment math with the adoption of the 13th Amdt (and the repeal of the infamous 3/5 person stuff in Art. I) — i.e. MORE U.S.A. Reps and Electoral College votes for the ex-slave States.
Sec. 2 was an indirect attempt to get *universal adult male citizen suffrage* — but MORON governments and armies of lawyers have neglected such section since 1868.
Super lazy MORON election law profs have NOT read the 2 speeches and informed the SCOTUS MORONS about basic stuff.
The 14th Amdt framers rashly assumed that the courts would understand that Secs. 1 and 2 involved different subjects.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/
Ms. Liberty in the mid 1800s — with a large olive branch and a super large sword.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwcg.html
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwcglink.html
39th Congress, 1st Session 1865-1866
Rep. Thaddeus Stevens [second only to Prez Lincoln as a Republican Party leader in 1861-1865 – de facto leader of the *radicals* in the Congress] – Cong. Globe, 39th Cong., 1st Sess. 2459-2460 (May 8, 1866).
Rep. Stevens died in Aug 1868 just after the 14th Amdt was declared ratified — would be buried in a black cemetary in PA — his last radical act.
Senator Jacob Howard – Cong. Globe, 39th Cong., 1st Sess. pp. 2764-2767 (May 23, 1866)
Both Stevens and Howard were members of the top secret Joint Committee on Reconstruction.
Note – ALL 4 of the substantive sections in the proposed 14th Amdt had FAILED separately earlier.
The 14th Amdt was a last chance to avoid having the Civil War resume.
How many LAZY SCOTUS and other lawyers have there been in the U.S.A. since 1866 ???
Cool article. Very interesting.