Hunter v. Underwood
| Hunter v. Underwood | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||||
| Argued February 26, 1985 Decided April 16, 1985 | ||||||
| Full case name | Hunter, et al. v. Victor Underwood, et al. | |||||
| Citations |
471 U.S. 222 (more) 105 S. Ct. 1916; 85 L. Ed. 2d 222; 1985 U.S. LEXIS 2740; 53 U.S.L.W. 4468 | |||||
| Court membership | ||||||
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| Case opinions | ||||||
| Majority | Rehnquist, joined by Burger, Brennan, White, Marshall, Blackmun, Stevens, O'Connor | |||||
| Powell took no part in the consideration or decision of the case. | ||||||
Hunter v. Underwood, 471 U.S. 222 (1985), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court invalidated the felony disenfranchisement provision of § 182 of the Alabama Constitution as a violation of equal protection.[1]
Background
Edwards, an African-American, and Underwood, white, were blocked from voting after presenting a worthless check. Their disenfranchisement was mandated by § 182 of the Alabama Constitution, which disenfranchised persons convicted of "any crime...involving moral turpitude."[2]
Opinion of the Court
The court identified § 182 as a facially neutral law with racially disproportionate effects, thus requiring an inquiry to discover if the law was passed with a discriminatory purpose. The provision was adopted at a convention in 1901, and the court found ample evidence that the law was passed with the intention of disenfranchising poor African-Americans.[3] The court struck down the provision as a violation of equal protection.