Source: http://openjurist.org/print/616250
Timestamp: 2015-08-03 13:34:31
Document Index: 800090342

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1983', '§ 2', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 5', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 2', '§ 1973', '§ 5', '§ 2', '§ 1983', '§ 5', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 46', '§ 371', '§ 46', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 2', '§ 1973', '§ 5', '§ 2', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 5', '§ 5', '§ 1983', '§ 5', '§ 1973', '§ 5', '§ 5', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 4', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 5', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 3', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 5', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 4', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 5', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 1973']

85 F3d 919 Baker v. E Pataki
Home > 85 F3d 919 Baker v. E Pataki
85 F3d 919 Baker v. E Pataki 85 F.3d 919
Theodore BAKER, Raymond Strawder, Yohannes Jackson, Mark A.Simon and Malcolm Nelson, Plaintiffs,Milton Goodman, Anthony Canady, Tyrone Sanchez and RichardJackson, Plaintiffs-Appellants,v.George E. PATAKI, Governor of the State of New York, andPhilip Coombe, Acting Commissioner of the New YorkState Department of CorrectionalServices, Defendants-Appellees.
Nos. 565, 1135, 1136, 1137, Dockets 94-2163, 94-2164,94-2165, 94-2176.
Argued Dec. 20, 1995.Decided May 30, 1996.
Plaintiffs-appellants appeal from an order of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York that dismissed their amended complaints, brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and alleging deprivations of their voting rights under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution and § 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 1973, for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. After a panel of this Court reversed and denied rehearing, we granted rehearing in banc to consider the applicability of § 1973 to new York State's felon disenfranchisement statute, N.Y. Election Law § 5-106(2)-(5).
The order of the district court, insofar as it dismissed plaintiffs-appellants' § 1973 claims, is affirmed by an equally divided Court. The case is remanded to the district court to allow plaintiffs-appellants to replead their Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment claims. Judge Mahoney files a separate opinion in favor of affirming the order of the district court with respect to the § 1973 dismissals in which Judges Miner, Walker, McLaughlin, and Jacobs join. Judge Feinberg files a separate opinion in favor of reversing the order of the district court with respect to the § 1973 dismissals in which Chief Judge Newman and Judges Meskill, Kearse, and Parker join. Chief Judge Newman files a separate opinion in favor of reversing the order of the district court with respect to the § 1973 dismissals in which Judge Parker joins.
Brett Dignam, New Haven, Connecticut (Deborah Archer, Richard Buery, Charlotte Burrows, David Gans, Suzanne Perry, law students, The Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization, New Haven, Connecticut, John S. Kiernan, Carl Riehl, Debevoise & Plimpton, New York City, of counsel), for Plaintiffs-Appellants.
John McConnell, Assistant Attorney General of the State of New York, Albany, New York (Dennis C. Vacco, Attorney General, Victoria A. Graffeo, Solicitor General, Peter H. Schiff, Deputy Solicitor General, Albany, New York, of counsel), for Defendants-Appellees.
Before NEWMAN, Chief Judge, and FEINBERG, MESKILL, KEARSE, MINER, MAHONEY, WALKER, McLAUGHLIN, JACOBS, and PARKER, Circuit Judges.
This appeal was reheard in banc to consider the applicability of § 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Pub.L. No. 89-110, 79 Stat. 437, 437, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 1973 (the "Voting Rights Act" or the "Act"), to New York Election Law § 5-106(2)-(5), which denies the franchise to incarcerated and paroled felons, particularly in light of the felon disenfranchisement provision of § 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Plaintiffs-appellants, black and hispanic incarcerated felons, appeal from a judgment entered February 22, 1994 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Vincent L. Broderick, Judge. In accordance with Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the district court dismissed plaintiffs-appellants' amended complaints, brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and alleging that § 5-106(2)-(5) disproportionately deprived blacks and hispanics of their right to vote in violation of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments of the Constitution and § 1973, for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. See Baker v. Cuomo, 842 F.Supp. 718 (S.D.N.Y.1993) ("Baker I ").
A panel of this Court reversed, holding, inter alia, that plaintiffs-appellants had stated a claim under § 1973. See Baker v. Cuomo, 58 F.3d 814 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 116 S.Ct. 488, 133 L.Ed.2d 415 (1995) ("Baker II "). The panel reaffirmed its decision in a denial of defendants-appellees' petition for rehearing. See Baker v. Cuomo, 58 F.3d at 824-25 ("Baker III "). This Court granted rehearing in banc only with respect to plaintiffs-appellants' § 1973 claims. See Baker v. Cuomo, 67 F.3d 39 (2d Cir.1995) ("Baker IV ").
Fifteen judges were potentially eligible to sit on the in banc court: the thirteen active judges of the court and the two senior judges who had been members of the original panel, Wilfred Feinberg and Thomas J. Meskill. See 28 U.S.C. § 46(c).1 However, four active judges, Ralph K. Winter, Pierre N. Leval, Guido Calabresi, and Jose A. Cabranes, recused themselves from the in banc proceeding, including the preliminary vote on whether to rehear the appeal in banc. In addition, after the in banc court of eleven judges (the remaining nine active judges and the two senior judges) heard oral argument, one of the active judges, Frank X. Altimari, retired from regular active service (i.e., took senior status) pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 371(b)(1), and thus became ineligible to sit on the in banc court. See 28 U.S.C. § 46(c); United States v. American-Foreign S.S. Corp., 363 U.S. 685, 686-87, 691, 80 S.Ct. 1336, 1337-38, 4 L.Ed.2d 1491 (1960); United States v. Chestman, 947 F.2d 551, 554 n. * (2d Cir.1991) (in banc), cert. denied, 503 U.S. 1004, 112 S.Ct. 1759, 118 L.Ed.2d 422 (1992).
The ten remaining judges are evenly divided as to the merits of this case. The order of the district court is therefore affirmed insofar as it dismissed plaintiffs-appellants' § 1973 claims. See Alleghany Corp. v. Kirby, 340 F.2d 311, 312 (2d Cir.1965) (in banc) (per curiam), cert. dismissed, 384 U.S. 28, 86 S.Ct. 1250, 16 L.Ed.2d 335 (1966); Farrand Optical Co. v. United States, 317 F.2d 875, 886 (2d Cir.1963) (in banc) (per curiam); Drake Bakeries, Inc. v. Local 50, Am. Bakery & Confectionery Workers Int'l, 294 F.2d 399, 400 (2d Cir.1961) (in banc) (per curiam), aff'd on other grounds, 370 U.S. 254, 82 S.Ct. 1346, 8 L.Ed.2d 474 (1962).2 Accordingly, the portion of the initial panel opinion that ruled upon plaintiffs-appellants' § 1973 claims, see Baker II, 58 F.3d at 822-24, and the entire panel opinion that denied rehearing, see Baker III, 58 F.3d at 824-25, are vacated. The case is remanded to the district court to allow plaintiffs-appellants to replead their claims under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. See Baker II, 58 F.3d at 822.
MAHONEY, Circuit Judge, with whom MINER, WALKER, McLAUGHLIN, and JACOBS, Circuit Judges, join:
This case presents the question whether the "results" test of § 2 of the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1973,1 may properly be applied to New York's felon disenfranchisement statute, N.Y. Elec. Law § 5-106(2)-(5),2 particularly in view of the felon disenfranchisement provision of § 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment.3 We conclude that such an application would raise serious constitutional questions regarding the scope of Congress' authority to enforce the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, see NLRB v. Catholic Bishop, 440 U.S. 490, 500-01, 99 S.Ct. 1313, 1318-19, 59 L.Ed.2d 533 (1979), and would " 'alter the "usual constitutional balance between the States and the Federal Government," ' " Gregory v. Ashcroft, 501 U.S. 452, 460, 111 S.Ct. 2395, 2401, 115 L.Ed.2d 410 (1991) (quoting Will v. Michigan Dep't of State Police, 491 U.S. 58, 65, 109 S.Ct. 2304, 2309, 105 L.Ed.2d 45 (1989) (quoting Atascadero State Hosp. v. Scanlon, 473 U.S. 234, 242, 105 S.Ct. 3142, 3147, 87 L.Ed.2d 171 (1985))). Because it is not unmistakably clear that, in amending § 1973 in 1982 to incorporate the "results" test, Congress intended that the test be applicable to felon disenfranchisement statutes, we conclude that § 1973 does not apply to § 5-106(2)-(5). Accordingly, plaintiffs-appellants have failed to state a claim under the Voting Rights Act.
On this appeal of a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, we accept the factual allegations in plaintiffs-appellants' amended complaints as true. See Villager Pond, Inc. v. Town of Darien, 56 F.3d 375, 377 (2d Cir.1995). In addition, we assume familiarity with the factual explications in Baker I, 842 F.Supp. at 720, and Baker II, 58 F.3d at 816-18.
Plaintiffs-appellants Milton Goodman, Anthony Canady, Tyrone Sanchez, and Richard Jackson are black and Hispanic individuals convicted of felonies under the laws of New York State who are currently serving sentences of imprisonment at the Green Haven Correctional Facility in Stormville, New York ("Green Haven"). Pursuant to New York Election Law § 5-106(2), plaintiffs-appellants are not permitted to vote in federal, state, or local elections while incarcerated (or thereafter while on parole). See supra note 2.
On September 30, 1993, plaintiffs-appellants and five other black and Hispanic felons incarcerated at Green Haven filed pro se complaints, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, which alleged that § 5-106 deprived them of their voting rights under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments and under § 1973. Their complaints sought declaratory and injunctive relief--primarily that the district court direct then-defendants Mario Cuomo and Thomas A. Coughlin4 to "ensure and enable plaintiff[s] and those similarly situated to vote in the November, 1993 New York City elections, and all future elections"--and nominal damages. Baker II, 58 F.3d at 817.
The district court issued a memorandum order which stated that the complaints "raise[d] profound issues" that had, however, "already been examined by the judiciary with uniform negative outcomes," and that any "different approach" would more appropriately be undertaken at the appellate level. Baker I, 842 F.Supp. at 720. The court accordingly consolidated the cases, id., declined to appoint counsel or require the defendants to answer the complaints at that juncture, id. at 723, undertook to "consider the variety of options which might be available were the existing rule to be re-examined," id. at 720, surveyed the applicable law, id. at 720-23, and directed that "[p]laintiffs may within 45 (forty-five) days ... respond to the considerations outlined" in the court's memorandum, id. at 723. The court added that "[u]nless persuasive reasons not to do so are submitted, the complaints will then be dismissed for failure to state claims on which relief may be granted." Id.
The ensuing submissions included amended complaints that were filed by a number of the plaintiffs.5 Their relevant factual allegations were as follows:
10) Upon information and belief, Blacks and Latinos combined comprise approximately 22 percent of New York State's population.
11) Upon information and belief, Blacks and Latinos comprise 82 percent of New York State's prison population.
12) Upon information and belief, approximately 75 percent of New York State's prison population consists of persons from [fourteen state] assembly districts ..., which are locate[d] in New York City.
13) In 1988, New York State's Chief Judge ... commissioned a committee titled The New York State Judicial Commission On Minorities ... to study the presence and [e]ffects of racism in the state's courts.
14) In April 1991, the [Commission] reported [in a "Report on Minorities"] that there was evidence of race-based disparity in the State Courts' conviction rate and sentence type....
21) Prior to the September 1993, New York City Primary, plaintiff informed defendant Cuomo that N.Y. Election law § 5-106(5) violated the equal protection clause of the Federal and State Constitutions, and requested that Cuomo take action to ensure plaintiff's right to vote in the upcoming Citywide Primary and Election.
22) In response to plaintiff['s] request, defendant Cuomo referred plaintiff's request to defendant Coughlin for disposition.
23) ... Coughlin issued memoranda indicating that the law denying plaintiff the right to vote was constitutional and will be enforced as always....
The amended complaints further alleged that § 5-106 deprived them of the right to vote in violation of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments and § 1973, and sought corrective declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as compensatory and punitive damages. Unpersuaded, on February 18, 1994, the district court issued a brief order sua sponte dismissing "[t]he complaints and proposed amended complaints ... for the reasons set forth in [Baker I ]."
On appeal, a panel of this Court reversed and remanded for further proceedings. See Baker II, 58 F.3d at 816. The panel determined that plaintiffs-appellants' Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment claims were deficient for failing to allege intentional discrimination, but remanded these claims with leave for plaintiffs to amend their amended complaints. Id. at 822. The panel also ruled that the district court's dismissal of the § 1973 claim, which pled both vote denial and vote dilution theories, 58 F.3d at 823-24, was inappropriate, and remanded this claim as well.6 As to the vote denial theory, the panel opined that because the district court had neither received any evidence nor entertained an answer from defendants-appellees, "it could not determine whether the totality of the circumstances would reveal a Voting Rights Act violation" under the "results" standard of § 1973. 58 F.3d at 823. The panel noted that plaintiffs-appellants did "not appear to have standing" to pursue a vote dilution claim on behalf of themselves, but speculated that they might be appropriate class representatives for black or Hispanic voters from one of the fourteen New York City assembly districts disproportionately affected by felon disenfranchisement. 58 F.3d at 824.7
Defendants-appellees petitioned for rehearing and suggested rehearing in banc, contending, inter alia, that permitting plaintiffs-appellants to state a § 1973 claim would violate § 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment by requiring New York to enfranchise convicted felons. The panel rejected this argument, stating that:
Although § 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment permits states to disenfranchise felons without proportionately diminishing the state's representation in Congress, it does not permit the states to pick and choose among felons in a way that violates whatever statutory protections of the right to vote Congress has enacted pursuant to its broad powers.
Baker III, 58 F.3d at 824.
On October 10, 1995, this Court voted to hear this case in banc, "limited to the issue of the applicability of the Voting Rights Act." Baker IV, 67 F.3d at 40.
A. The Merits.
The enactment of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 "reflect[ed] Congress' firm intention to rid the country of racial discrimination in voting." South Carolina v. Katzenbach, 383 U.S. 301, 315, 86 S.Ct. 803, 811-12, 15 L.Ed.2d 769 (1966). There are essentially two classes of remedies established by the Act. Several provisions apply only to those jurisdictions that fall within a coverage formula set forth in § 4(b) of the Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1973b(b). For a jurisdiction to be "covered," two conditions must be met. First, the Attorney General of the United States must make a determination that the jurisdiction in question has employed at least one of four specifically enumerated tests or devices with respect to voter qualification on November 1, 1964, November 1, 1968, or November 1, 1972 (the "coverage date").8 Second, the Director of the Census must make a determination that fewer than fifty percent of the jurisdiction's voting age population (1) was registered to vote on the coverage date, or (2) voted in the presidential election that occurred in the November that includes the coverage date. See § 1973b(b).9
The most salient stricture currently applied exclusively to covered jurisdictions is imposed by § 5 of the Act, which specifies that a covered jurisdiction may not "enact or seek to administer any voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure with respect to voting different from that in force or effect on" its coverage date without first receiving preclearance from either the Attorney General or the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. 42 U.S.C. § 1973c. In an action in the district court, preclearance will be granted only if the covered jurisdiction can prove that the proposed practice "does not have the purpose and will not have the effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race or color, or in contravention of the guarantees set forth in section 1973b(f)(2) [regarding membership in a language minority group]." § 1973c.10
The Act contains a number of provisions, including § 1973, that apply to all jurisdictions, whether or not covered. As originally enacted, § 1973 barred the imposition or application of voting qualifications or procedures to "deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color." This provision was construed in City of Mobile v. Bolden, 446 U.S. 55, 100 S.Ct. 1490, 64 L.Ed.2d 47 (1980), as "hav[ing] an effect no different from that of the Fifteenth Amendment itself," id. at 61, 100 S.Ct. at 1496 (plurality opinion), which in turn was construed to prohibit "action by a State that is racially neutral on its face ... only if motivated by a discriminatory purpose," id. at 62, 100 S.Ct. at 1497. In 1982, § 1973 was amended to its present form by the Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1982, Pub.L. No. 97-205, § 3, 96 Stat. 131, 134, "largely [in] response to [the Supreme] Court's plurality opinion in [Bolden ]." Thornburg v. Gingles, 478 U.S. 30, 35, 106 S.Ct. 2752, 2758, 92 L.Ed.2d 25 (1986). Thus, § 1973(a) now prohibits any "voting qualification or prerequisite to voting or standard, practice, or procedure ... which results in a denial or abridgement of the right of any citizen ... to vote on account of race or color," supra note 1 (emphasis added), without regard to discriminatory intent.
In Thornburg, which involved a redistricting of the North Carolina state legislature, see 478 U.S. at 34-35, 106 S.Ct. at 2758, the Supreme Court elaborated upon the showing required in that vote dilution case to prove a violation of amended § 1973. The Court addressed the "flexible, fact-intensive test for § [1973] violations" envisioned by the 1982 amendment, 478 U.S. at 46, 106 S.Ct. at 2764, stressing factors set forth in the pertinent Senate report, S.Rep. No. 417, 97th Cong., 2d Sess. 28-29, reprinted in 1982 U.S.C.C.A.N. 177, 206-07. The Court deemed these factors, while "neither comprehensive nor exclusive," id. at 45, 106 S.Ct. at 2763, to constitute guideposts for the application of § 1973. The Court stated that:
The Senate Report specifies factors which typically may be relevant to a § [1973] claim: the history of voting-related discrimination in the [jurisdiction]; the extent to which voting in the elections of the [jurisdiction] is racially polarized; the extent to which the [jurisdiction] has used voting practices or procedures that tend to enhance the opportunity for discrimination against the minority group, such as unusually large election districts, majority vote requirements, and prohibitions against bullet voting; the exclusion of members of the minority group from candidate slating processes; the extent to which minority group members bear the effects of past discrimination in areas such as education, employment, and health, which hinder their ability to participate effectively in the political process; the use of overt or subtle racial appeals in political campaigns; and the extent to which members of the minority group have been elected to public office in the jurisdiction. The Report notes also that evidence demonstrating that elected officials are unresponsive to the particularized needs of the members of the minority group and that the policy underlying the [juris-diction's] use of the contested practice or structure is tenuous may have probative value.
478 U.S. at 44-45, 106 S.Ct. at 2763 (citations omitted).
Thornburg also discussed several discrete limits upon the scope of amended § 1973. "First, electoral devices, such as at-large elections, may not be considered per se violative of § [1973]." Id. at 46, 106 S.Ct. at 2764. The plaintiff bears the burden of proving unequal access to the electoral process under the totality of the circumstances. Id. Second, a showing that a jurisdiction uses "an allegedly dilutive electoral mechanism," coupled with a demonstration that a minority group is not proportionately represented, is insufficient, without more, to establish a violation of § 1973. Id. Finally, "the results test does not assume the existence of racial bloc voting; plaintiffs must prove it." Id.
Congress enacted the "results" test of amended § 1973 pursuant to its authority under the enforcement provisions of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments.11 See S.Rep. No. 417 at 40, reprinted in 1982 U.S.C.C.A.N. 218. It is settled, however, that the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments may be violated only by intentional discrimination. See Baker II, 58 F.3d at 822 (citing Hunter v. Underwood, 471 U.S. 222, 227-28, 105 S.Ct. 1916, 1919-20, 85 L.Ed.2d 222 (1985) (Fourteenth Amendment); Bolden, 446 U.S. at 62, 100 S.Ct. at 1497 (Fifteenth Amendment); and Butts v. City of New York, 779 F.2d 141, 143-45 & n. 1 (2d Cir.1985) (Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments), cert. denied, 478 U.S. 1021, 106 S.Ct. 3335, 92 L.Ed.2d 740 (1986)); see also Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Hous. Dev. Corp., 429 U.S. 252, 265, 97 S.Ct. 555, 563, 50 L.Ed.2d 450 (1977) (Fourteenth Amendment); Orange Lake Assocs., Inc. v. Kirkpatrick, 21 F.3d 1214, 1226 (2d Cir.1994) (Fourteenth Amendment); Soberal-Perez v. Heckler, 717 F.2d 36, 41-42 (2d Cir.1983) (Fourteenth Amendment), cert. denied, 466 U.S. 929, 104 S.Ct. 1713, 80 L.Ed.2d 186 (1984). Accordingly, the "results" test of amended § 1973 reaches conduct which is not directly violative of the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments. The question thus presented is whether the application of amended § 1973 to § 5-106(2)-(5) is nonetheless constitutionally authorized.
Thornburg did not directly address the constitutionality of amended § 1973. Cf. Chisom v. Roemer, 501 U.S. 380, 418, 111 S.Ct. 2354, 2376, 115 L.Ed.2d 348 (1991) (Kennedy, J., dissenting) ("Nothing in [Chisom ] addresses the question whether § [1973], as interpreted in [Thornburg ], is consistent with the requirements of the United States Constitution."). In a series of cases involving the Voting Rights Act, however, the Supreme Court has held that Congress may constitutionally prohibit practices that are not, considered in isolation, constitutional violations, but which perpetuate the effects of past purposeful discrimination.
In South Carolina v. Katzenbach, the Court rejected a facial challenge to the constitutionality of the coverage formula of § 1973b, the remedies provided by the Act for jurisdictions declared within the coverage formula, and the provisions for appointment of federal examiners in covered jurisdictions. See 383 U.S. at 329-37, 86 S.Ct. at 819-23. In doing so, the Court stressed the "reliable evidence of actual voting discrimination in a great majority of the States and political subdivisions affected by the new remedies of the Act." Id. at 329, 86 S.Ct. at 819. The Court pointed out that in the majority of the states falling within the coverage formula, the prohibited tests and devices, see supra note 8, had "been instituted with the purpose of disenfranchising Negroes, ha[d] been framed in such a way as to facilitate this aim, and ha[d] been administered in a discriminatory fashion for many years." Id. at 333-34, 86 S.Ct. at 821.
Katzenbach v. Morgan, 384 U.S. 641, 86 S.Ct. 1717, 16 L.Ed.2d 828 (1966), determined that § 4(e) of the Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1973b(e), passed constitutional muster. This provision specified that no person who had successfully completed the sixth primary grade in a public or accredited private school in "any State or territory, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in which the predominant classroom language was other than English" could be denied the vote on grounds of illiteracy. § 1973b(e). Although phrased in general terms, the statute was concededly enacted "for the explicit purpose of dealing with the disenfranchisement of large segments of the Puerto Rican population in New York." 384 U.S. at 645 n. 3, 86 S.Ct. at 1720-21 n. 3. In upholding the legislation as a valid implementation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Court noted that "Congress might well have questioned" the legitimacy of New York's English literacy requirement "in light of the many exemptions provided, and some evidence suggesting that prejudice played a prominent role in the enactment of the requirement." Id. at 654, 86 S.Ct. at 1725 (footnote omitted).
The Supreme Court returned to the Voting Rights Act in Oregon v. Mitchell, 400 U.S. 112, 91 S.Ct. 260, 27 L.Ed.2d 272 (1970). At issue in that case were 1970 amendments to the Act that imposed a temporary nationwide ban on the § 1973b(c) tests and devices, see supra note 8, abolished state durational residency requirements in presidential elections and provided uniform national rules for absentee voting in presidential elections, and required the states to extend the franchise to otherwise qualified eighteen-year-olds. See 400 U.S. at 117, 134, 91 S.Ct. at 261, 269-70 (opinion of Black, J.). The Court, without a majority opinion, upheld the ban of tests and devices and the voting-age provision as it applied to federal elections, as well as the provisions relating specifically to presidential elections, but invalidated the voting-age provision insofar as it applied to state and local elections. See id. at 117-19, 91 S.Ct. at 261-62 (opinion of Black, J). With respect to the literacy test ban, Justice Black, whose opinion announced the judgment of the Court, reasoned that "Congress had before it a long history of the discriminatory use of literacy tests to disenfranchise voters on account of their race." Id. at 132, 91 S.Ct. at 268 (opinion of Black, J.). With respect to the invalidated voting-age provision, on the other hand, Justice Black distinguished this provision from those upheld in South Carolina and Morgan by noting, inter alia, that "Congress made no legislative findings that the 21-year-old vote requirement was used by the States to disenfranchise voters on account of race." Id. at 130, 91 S.Ct. at 267 (opinion of Black, J.).
In City of Rome, the City of Rome, Georgia sought preclearance, pursuant to § 1973c, for certain changes in its electoral system. As noted earlier, that provision allows a covered jurisdiction to enact a voting practice if the jurisdiction can establish that the practice "does not have the purpose and will not have the effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race or color." § 1973c (emphasis added). The City of Rome contended that § 1973c, "to the extent that it prohibits voting changes that have only a discriminatory effect, is unconstitutional." City of Rome, 446 U.S. at 173, 100 S.Ct. at 1561. Relying on South Carolina and Oregon, the Court responded that: "Congress could rationally have concluded that, because electoral changes by jurisdictions with a demonstrable history of intentional racial discrimination in voting create the risk of purposeful discrimination, it was proper to prohibit changes that have a discriminatory impact." 446 U.S. at 177, 100 S.Ct. at 1562 (footnote omitted) (citing South Carolina, 383 U.S. at 335, 86 S.Ct. at 822, and Oregon, 400 U.S. at 216, 91 S.Ct. at 310-11 (opinion of Harlan, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part)).
The proposed application of § 1973 to § 5-106(2)-(5) can find no support in any of these cases. First, although South Carolina and City of Rome upheld the "results" test of § 1973c, that provision applies only to jurisdictions that fall within the coverage formula of § 1973b(b), a formula that is at the heart of "a complex scheme of stringent remedies aimed at areas where voting discrimination has been most flagrant." South Carolina, 383 U.S. at 315, 86 S.Ct. at 812. By contrast, § 1973 applies nationwide, without distinction between (i) those jurisdictions in which Executive Branch findings create a statutory presumption that all state-enacted voting practices require enhanced scrutiny, and (ii) those jurisdictions where no such findings have been made. Second, although Morgan and Oregon upheld nationwide bans, those bans addressed specific disfavored practices that perpetuated historical discrimination of an unconstitutional kind.12 Conversely, as we will now demonstrate, felon disenfranchisement is a very