The Record of Judge Sonia Sotomayor on Critical Legal Rights for Women: Other Civil Rights Issues

Judge Sotomayor's Legal Record: Other Civil Rights Issues

July 2009

Voting Rights

Judge Sotomayor's dissent in a voting rights case demonstrates a robust reading of voting rights protections based on the plain language of the Voting Rights Act.

In Hayden v. Pataki,[1] African American and Hispanic inmates and parolees filed suit to challenge a New York state statute disenfranchising incarcerated and paroled felons as a violation of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). The majority opinion held that New York's felon disenfranchisement statutes did not violate the VRA, relying heavily on its analysis of the statute's legislative history. Judge Sotomayor dissented separately to state that the plain language of VRA should govern, and should warrant the finding of a violation:

It is plain to anyone reading the Voting Rights Act that it applies to all "voting qualification[s]." And it is equally plain that