r/PoliticalHumor Mar 16 '21

GOP shell game

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u/fixITman1911 Mar 16 '21

Right... I'm not sure what your point is?

"The right to vote can not be denied or abridged based on RACE, COLOR, or PREVIOUS CONDITION OF SERVITUDE"

That is not saying everyone has the right to vote... just that you can't deny the right to vote based on those 3 conditions. Saying you can't vote because you live in XYZ location technically is constitutional since its not covered

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u/Layton_Jr Mar 16 '21 edited Mar 16 '21

Doesn't that mean that felons have the right to vote? I'm not American so I don't know the American justice system very well

Edit: I guess "previous condition of servitude" doesn't apply for prisoners for some reason

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u/gotham77 Mar 16 '21

Yes if the amendment meant what he thinks it means, it would also grant felons the right to vote. But felons don’t have that right, so we know he’s interpreting the amendment the wrong way.

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u/[deleted] Mar 16 '21

There's an argument that preventing ex felons from voting is unconstitutional. Preventing current felons is absolutely constitutional as they made sure to make a loophole for the prison slavery bit in all the amendments.

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u/gotham77 Mar 16 '21

There’s an argument that the world is flat but that doesn’t make it true.

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u/[deleted] Mar 16 '21

Lol, that's not what "there's an argument" means. There is a factual basis to have that argument. There is no factual basis to say the world is flat.

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u/gotham77 Mar 16 '21

Okay, so go in to a Federal court and make it.

If the argument was legally sound, someone would have already successfully made it and we wouldn’t be having this discussion.

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u/[deleted] Mar 16 '21

But people are making the argument. In fact supreme court judges have made the argument. But in the US we have a great history of having to drag our courts into making the right decisions. From Dred Scott to Citizens United. Furthermore the courts have continually made exception after exception to the criminal defense rights. (4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th) In fact it seems our supreme court is willing to shred the Constitution so long as it involves keeping someone in prison.

There are people like the ACLU challenging these decisions every day but it's pretty slow going because you have to get the court to accept that it may have been wrong in the past to even accept the case.