Chester H. Smith Professor of Law and Professor of Public Administration and Policy at the University of Arizona
Position:
Pro to the question "Should felons be allowed to vote?"
Reasoning:
"Criminal disenfranchisement was widely used in the South after Reconstruction to suppress the vote of African-Americans. It remains the major basis for the disproportionate disenfranchisement of African-American adults. Thirteen percent of African-American men cannot vote because of criminal conviction, a rate seven times the national average. Felon disenfranchisement has tremendous effects on the political landscape -- leading researchers report that felon disenfranchisement 'may have altered the outcome of as many as seven recent U.S. Senate elections and one presidential election.' Because the Fifteenth Amendment repealed Section 2, courts must reconsider the treatment of felon disenfranchisement."
"Reconstruction, Felon Disenfranchisement and the Right to Vote: Did the Fifteenth Amendment Repeal Section 2 of the Fourteenth," Georgetown Law Journal, 2004
Experts
PhD's, JD's (lawyers), Judges, Members of Congress, members of legislative bodies, and Executive Branch positions with significant involvement in, or related to, felon voting issues. [Note: Experts definition varies by site.]
Involvement and Affiliations:
Chester H. Smith Professor of Law, James E. Rogers College of Law, University of Arizona, 2004-present
Professor of Public Administration and Policy, Eller College of Management, University of Arizona, 2004-present
Chair, Association of American Law Schools, Minority Law Teachers Section, 2004-2005
Professor of Law, James E. Rogers College of Law, 2003-2004
Rufus King Professor of Law, University of Cincinnati College of Law, 2001-2003
Urban Justice Institute, University of Cincinnati College of Law, 2001-2003
Special Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, Cincinnati, OH, 1999-2003
Interim Associate Dean, University of Cincinnati College of Law, Spring 2002
Associate Professor, Professor of Law, University of Cincinnati College of Law, 1998-2001
Assistant Professor, Western New England College School of Law, Springfield, MA, 1995-1998
Special Assistant District Attorney, Office of the District Attorney, Appeals Bureau, Cambridge & Springfield, MA, 1996-1998
Associate Appellate Counsel, Criminal Appeals Bureau, The Legal Aid Society of New York, 1992-1994
Law Clerk, The Honorable Richard P. Matsch, Judge, U.S. District Court, District of Colorado, 1989
"Reconstruction, Felon Disenfranchisement and the Right to Vote: Did the Fifteenth Amendment Repeal Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment?," Georgetown Law Journal, 2004
Cowritten with John Cranley, "Report to the General Assembly of the State of Ohio Recommending Ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution," 2003
Cowritten with Ricahrd W. Holmes, Jr., "Effective Assistance of Counsel and the Consequences of Guilty Pleas," Cornell Law Review, 2002
"Segregation’s Last Stronghold: Race Discrimination and the Constitutional Law of Immigration," UCLA Law Review, 1998
"The Plessy Myth: Justice Harlan and the Chinese Cases," Iowa Law Review, 1996
