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The Constitutionality of Tax Felon Disenfranchisement

Sloan G. Speck (J.D. 2007, Chicago) has published "Failure to Pay Any Poll Tax or Other Tax”: The Constitutionality of Tax Felon Disenfranchisement, 74 U. Chi. L. Rev. 1549 (2007).  Here is the Conclusion:

The text, structure, and drafting history of the Twenty-fourth Amendment notwithstanding, the Amendment’s ban on any “poll tax or other tax” should not include income taxes, leaving tax felon disen-franchisement constitutional. This extratextual interpretation, which stems from the application of a “preliminary frame” that considers the Twenty-fourth Amendment’s scope in light of its social, legal, and his-torical role, ameliorates the tension between felon disenfranchisement laws and the Twenty-fourth Amendment. In addition, the concept of a preliminary frame sheds light on other apparently extratextual inter-pretations of the Constitution, such as those involving the Ninth and Eleventh Amendments. Indeed, preliminary frames may even provide useful guidance in addressing parts of the Constitution that produce divergent meanings under different interpretive modes.

(Hat Tip: Sarah Lawsky.)


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