PRESS RELEASE

The Second Circuit Federal Court of Appeals has ruled that the State of New York, and other states, can deny convicted felons the right to vote.

The case of Hayden v. Pataki involved convicted killer Joseph Hayden. He claimed that the New York law prohibiting felons from voting violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended in 1982.  The 13-judge court rejected the claim, with 5 judges dissenting.

The court dismissed a companion case, Muntaqim v. Coombe, on the ground that Muntaqim is not a legal resident of New York and therefore had no standing to challenge the law.

The Criminal Justice Legal Foundation participated in the case as a friend of the court, along with the family of one of the murder victims and the Center for Equal Opportunity, to oppose the criminals’ claim.  The brief was written by George Conway and Kenneth Lee of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, in New York.