June 13, 1967: New York Courts Rule Criminal Disenfranchisement Legal

A federal appeals court rules in Green v. Board of Elections of New York that New York State’s criminal disenfranchisement statutes (see 1802-1857) are legal under the state Constitution. The ruling finds that “a man who breaks the laws he has authorized his agent to make for his own governance could fairly have been thought to have abandoned the right to participate in further administering the compact.… It can scarcely be deemed unreasonable for a state to decide that perpetrators of serious crimes shall not take part in electing the legislators who make the laws.” The New York Supreme Court will uphold the verdict. [Green v. Board of Elections of New York, 6/13/1967 ; ProCon, 10/19/2010]