The big problem with a right-to-vote constitutional amendment

Guaranteeing the right to vote would be great. But there's no reason to think conservative courts will play along.

Georgia voting rights
(Image credit: (Steve Eberhardt/Demotix/Corbis))

In what will probably come as a surprise to many Americans, the U.S. Constitution doesn't explicitly guarantee a right to vote. That lamentable absence has sparked a movement of sorts, with commentators calling for the adoption of such an amendment to combat a wave of vote-suppression tactics that have been implemented by conservative state legislatures across the country. But while a right-to-vote amendment would certainly be welcome, it probably won't do all that much to protect the vote.

Vox's Matt Yglesias, for one, makes a compelling case for a right-to-vote amendment, taking into account not only the anti-democratic laws being passed at the state level, but also the Supreme Court's refusal to do anything about them. This is despite the fact that the Constitution does contain various provisions preventing the franchise from being restricted, such as the Fifteenth Amendment, which mandates that the "right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."

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Scott Lemieux

Scott Lemieux is a professor of political science at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, N.Y., with a focus on the Supreme Court and constitutional law. He is a frequent contributor to the American Prospect and blogs for Lawyers, Guns and Money.