Harvey

Arizona’s Constitution provides: “No person who is adjudicated an incapacitated person shall be qualified to vote at any election, nor shall any person convicted of treason or felony, be qualified to vote at any election unless restored to civil rights.” Ariz. Const, art. VII, § 2. Arizona statutes give effect to this constitutional provision by suspending the voting-rights of any person convicted of a felony, Ariz.Rev.Stat. § 13-904(A)(1), and automatically restoring those rights to any person convicted of only one felony, provided he: “1. Completes a term of probation or receives an absolute discharge from imprisonment,” and “2. Pays any fine or restitution imposed.” Ariz.Rev.Stat. § 13-912(A).

Plaintiffs brought suits challenging Arizona’s disenfranchisement scheme. Then-first argument was that disenfranchisement for felonies not recognized as such at common law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. While plaintiffs acknowledged that Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment insulates felon-disenfranchisement schemes from equal protection challenges to some extent, see Richardson v. Ramirez, 418 U.S. 24 , 94 S.Ct. 2655 , 41 L.Ed.2d 551 (1974), they…