Simmons v. Galvin, No. 08-1569

By FindLaw Staff on July 31, 2009 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

In a dispute involving the disenfranchisement of incarcerated felons and the Voting Rights Act, district court judgment is reversed in part and affirmed in part where: 1) plaintiffs' challenge to the statute should be dismissed as plaintiffs failed to state a claim under Voting Rights Act sec. 2, and it is clear from the language, history, and context of the Act that Congress never intended sec. 2 to prohibit the states from disenfranchising currently incarcerated felons; and 2) the court properly granted summary judgment on plaintiff's Ex Post Facto claim as the disputed state statute is a civil regulatory scheme.

Read Simmons v. Galvin, No. 08-1569

Appellate Information
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
Decided: July 31, 2009

Judges
Before Lynch, Chief Judge, Torruella and Boudin, Circuit Judges.
Opinion by Lynch, Chief Judge.

Counsel
For Appellant: Kenneth W. Salinger, Assistant Attorney General.

For Appellee: Christopher P. Silva.