A couple of years ago Derrick Shepherd performed his one good deed in a long career otherwise characterized by, well, questionable deeds. He successfully challenged a state law suppressing the citizenship rights of ex-convicts. Unfortunately, the state legislature moved fairly quickly to reinstate that law. The new version bans former convicts from running for office for "only" five years rather than the fifteen required by the old law.
It is disappointing in the extreme to see figures like JP Morrell support a law that extends the capacity of the criminal justice terror state to penalize its victims. The good news is, because this is a constitutional amendment, it requires passage by a statewide ballot which is why you will have a chance to vote against it this fall. The bad news is it will very likely pass anyway.
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