Hunter v. Underwood, 471 U.S. 222 (1985), was a case decided by the United States Supreme Court that invalidated the felony disenfranchisement

Felony disenfranchisement

Felony disenfranchisement is the term used to describe the practice of prohibiting people from voting based on the fact that they have been convicted of a felony or other criminal offence...

 provision of § 182 of the Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

 Constitution as a violation of equal protection.

Factual 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."

Decision

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. The court struck down the provision as a violation of equal protection.