United States Ninth Circuit

In actions challenging Arizona's felon disenfranchisement scheme, dismissal of the action is affirmed where the Fourteenth Amendment permits states to disenfranchise felons, regardless of whether their offenses were recognized as felonies at common law, and requiring felons to satisfy the terms of their sentences before restoring their voting rights was rationally related to a legitimate state interest, and does not violate any of the various constitutional provisions plaintiffs rely upon.

Appellate Information

• Argued 10/19/2009
• Decided 05/27/2010
• Published 05/27/2010

Judges

• Before SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR, Associate Justice,ALEX KOZINSKI, Chief Judge, and SANDRA S. IKUTA, Circuit Judge.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• John R. Cosgrove, Menlo Park, CA, for plaintiffs-appellants Debra L. Harvey and Catherine M. Beddard., Daniel Pochoda, American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, Phoenix, AZ, for plaintiffs-appellants Armando Coronado, Joseph Rubio, Michael Garza, Michele Convie, and Raymond Lewis., Laughlin McDonald, Neil Bradley, and Nancy G. Abudu, American Civil Liberties Union Voting Rights Project, Atlanta, GA, for plaintiffs-appellants Armando Coronado, Joseph Rubio, Michael Garza, Michele Convie, and Raymond Lewis., Erika Wood and Myrna Pérez, Brennan Center for Justice, New York, NY, on behalf of amicus curiae the Brennan Center for Justice., Lawrence S. Lustberg, Jennifer B. Condon, Gibbons, P.C., Newark, NJ, on behalf of amicus curiae the Brennan Center for Justice.


• For Appellees:
  
• Terry Goddard, Attorney General, Mary O'Grady, Solicitor General, and Barbara A. Bailey, Assistant Attorney General, Phoenix, AZ, for defendants-appellees Janice Brewer and Ken Bennett., Barbara LaWall, Pima County Attorney, Tucson, AZ, for defendant-appellee F. Ann Rodriguez.